Visa Lawyer Blog
Per the USCIS announcement on June 5, 2008, USCIS is centralizing the processing of N-400’s at NBC, with one exception. Military naturalization applicants will continue to file with the Nebraska Service Center until further notice.
Movement of N-400 applications from the service centers to the National Benefits Center
(NBC) for centralized staging and subsequent processing will occur in an incremental
fashion. The Texas Service Center (TSC) will move forms from its office to the NBC
during the month of June. This movement will not involve all N-400 applications
received at the TSC, however. The TSC will only move those cases received and
accepted at their site after June 6th. Only those cases received after this date and found to
be correctly filed according to USCIS standards will be transferred to the NBC.
The California Service Center will follow suit during the month of July by transferring
only those cases meeting the above stated criteria after the specific date in July yet to be
determined and communicated. The Nebraska Service Center will be transferring its
cases received in August, in like fashion. The Vermont Service Center will conclude this
transition phase with the movement of its cases to the NBC within the month of
September. Only those cases receipted after the specific date set in September will be
moved from the VSC to the NBC.
All cases received and accepted at the four service centers prior to the transfer dates
mentioned above will be processed at the center they were received at and will not, for
the time being, be transferred to the NBC. All cases that remain at the four centers as
well as those transferred to the NBC will eventually be sent to the appropriate Field
Office for final adjudicative action.
Two new lockboxes are being established for receipt of N-400s: Phoenix, AZ, and
Dallas, TX. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it is USCIS’ intention to begin receiving
N400’s at these lockboxes at the beginning of FY 2009. USCIS will issue a formal
notice as to the change in filing locations. USCIS anticipates that there will be a
“transition period” (length not decided yet) where N-400s filed at the wrong location will
be forwarded to the appropriate lockbox.