Receipt Date or Notice Date which takes first seat than the priority date ?

[dwhuser]

People we have a question, throw us some light now that our application officailly falls under current dates....

Our service center is Texas Center and the dates -
Priority Date - Oct 18 2004
485 Received Date - Aug 17th 2007
485 Notice Date - Oct 16th 2007

The current processing time for Texas Service Center is August 23rd 2007. Do they process based on reciept date or notice date? From the past experience we know that they donot process based on priority dates (We have been current for 3 times in the past and saw approvals for PD's in 2006 with earlier notice and receipt dates)

[adobe howm]

Receipt Date

[jsb]

Originally Posted by adobe howm

Receipt Date

Well, that may not be quite correct. Service centers claim that they process cases in order they receive them. Receive Date on the receipt is the official RD (the mail room receive date) by USCIS. It is not the date case was received by a center. In the above case, files were just waiting somewhere between Aug 17 and Oct 16. Texas center perhaps opened the case on Oct 16, entered it in the system and sent out a notice. Online status perhaps shows "...your case was received on Oct 16...". So, as far as Texas center is concerned they received the case on Oct. 16.

Thus, as curent processing times are at August 23, 2007, dwhuser case file is yet to be opened. Since file is not yet opened, no one yet knows his/her PD (it is nowhere other than on paper files). So the case waits - his/her PD may get current and pass. Of course, Aug 17 '07 to Oct 16, '07, was not dwhuser's fault, but it put him/her behind a lot of cases whose files were accepted/opened by a center in the meantime.

Why so? Because USCIS prime systems are not designed for huge volumes, or PD's so much in the waiting.

[dwhuser]

Originally Posted by jsb

Thus, as curent processing times are at August 23, 2007, dwhuser case file is yet to be opened. Since file is not yet opened, no one yet knows his/her PD (it is nowhere other than on paper files). So the case waits - his/her PD may get current and pass.

Why so? Because USCIS prime systems are not designed for huge volumes, or PD's so much in the waiting.

That's exactly what I thought.....huh.....the wait still goes on.....

Coming to the Infopass....I'll have to drive 5 hrs to go to the nearest office and a loss of pay leave for a couple of days. Not sure if it's worth the hastle

[fromnaija]

Originally Posted by jsb

Thus, as curent processing times are at August 23, 2007, dwhuser case file is yet to be opened. Since file is not yet opened, no one yet knows his/her PD (it is nowhere other than on paper files).

The above part of your submission is not true. If you read the I-485 Adjudicator's Manual, you will find that the file is already opened and input into the system at this stage. Otherwise dwhuser would not have received I-797 Notice of Action.

In theory action on a case should be sequenced by priority date and then received date within the priority date batch. However, nobody knows for sure how USCIS works each case.

[Tortoise]

On October 4, 2007, we received this I485 APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS, and mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case.

Mine is with TSC.

[vikki76]

Even I was wondering same thing- Notice Date or Received Date. USCIS website says Received date is taken into account while looking at service centers processing times.
Here is exact line-
"IMPORTANT: If your receipt notice date is earlier then the processing date shown, we suggest you call our USCIS Customer Service Office at 1-800-375-5283 for assistance."

Of course, I personally wish that Notice Date takes precedence as it is not our fault that one file just kept on sitting and in saga of moving dates and PD, each day makes a difference.

Originally Posted by jsb

Well, that may not be quite correct. Service centers claim that they process cases in order they receive them. Receive Date on the receipt is the official RD (the mail room receive date) by USCIS. It is not the date case was received by a center. In the above case, files were just waiting somewhere between Aug 17 and Oct 16. Texas center perhaps opened the case on Oct 16, entered it in the system and sent out a notice. Online status perhaps shows "...your case was received on Oct 16...". So, as far as Texas center is concerned they received the case on Oct. 16.

Thus, as curent processing times are at August 23, 2007, dwhuser case file is yet to be opened. Since file is not yet opened, no one yet knows his/her PD (it is nowhere other than on paper files). So the case waits - his/her PD may get current and pass. Of course, Aug 17 '07 to Oct 16, '07, was not dwhuser's fault, but it put him/her behind a lot of cases whose files were accepted/opened by a center in the meantime.

Why so? Because USCIS prime systems are not designed for huge volumes, or PD's so much in the waiting.

[nrk]

To my knowledge it is Notice Date.

Originally Posted by dwhuser

People we have a question, throw us some light now that our application officailly falls under current dates....

Our service center is Texas Center and the dates -
Priority Date - Oct 18 2004
485 Received Date - Aug 17th 2007
485 Notice Date - Oct 16th 2007

The current processing time for Texas Service Center is August 23rd 2007. Do they process based on reciept date or notice date? From the past experience we know that they donot process based on priority dates (We have been current for 3 times in the past and saw approvals for PD's in 2006 with earlier notice and receipt dates)

[vikki76]

Hmm..I take back my words..maybe it is notice date as exact term per USCIS is "receipt notice date".
Or in typical USCIS fashion..whatever they think best

Originally Posted by vikki76

Even I was wondering same thing- Notice Date or Received Date. USCIS website says Received date is taken into account while looking at service centers processing times.
Here is exact line-
"IMPORTANT: If your receipt notice date is earlier then the processing date shown, we suggest you call our USCIS Customer Service Office at 1-800-375-5283 for assistance."

Of course, I personally wish that Notice Date takes precedence as it is not our fault that one file just kept on sitting and in saga of moving dates and PD, each day makes a difference.

[jsb]

Originally Posted by fromnaija

The above part of your submission is not true. If you read the I-485 Adjudicator's Manual, you will find that the file is already opened and input into the system at this stage. Otherwise dwhuser would not have received I-797 Notice of Action.

In theory action on a case should be sequenced by priority date and then received date within the priority date batch. However, nobody knows for sure how USCIS works each case.

fromjaija, When data is entered, and the notice is generated, only limited information is entered in the system. PD is not one of them. When I said "file is not opened", I meant that no one has yet reviewed the file. Note that for most cases PD is not a controlling factor. It is only the unfortunate ones from retrogressed countries that they have to wait for PD to be current. For everyone else, once file is reviewed, if all documentation is in order, case is cleared. Once a file is reviewed, if it has to wait for PD to be current, it is placed in sequence of PD. See USCIS SOP on the link below, which even tells what color of paper clip to use, etc. (though it is a bit out of date).

http://www.ilw.com/seminars/august2002_citation2b.pdf

[ganesha]

My guess is they do it by priority date and use notice date when the priority date is same

[Tortoise]

I had 2 soft LUDs in Aug 26 and 27 in 2008 for all of 3 applicants on that day not sure they are for what..that time I was in India using AP.
Another guess is my file may have been pre-adjudicated thats why I had see 3 LUD's as other 2 applicants didn't treavel to India only myself.

[jsb]

Originally Posted by vikki76

Even I was wondering same thing- Notice Date or Received Date. USCIS website says Received date is taken into account while looking at service centers processing times.
Here is exact line-
"IMPORTANT: If your receipt notice date is earlier then the processing date shown, we suggest you call our USCIS Customer Service Office at 1-800-375-5283 for assistance."

Of course, I personally wish that Notice Date takes precedence as it is not our fault that one file just kept on sitting and in saga of moving dates and PD, each day makes a difference.

Of course it is not your fault if your case was sitting upopened for months (mine was one of them too), but as a typical govt office, Texas Service Center would also say, they are not responsible until file physically came to them, and then opened it. They treat the date you see online as "...your case was received on...", as the receive date, which is quite close to ND (no matter what is on your receipt).

If RD and and ND are too far apart, and your PD is current, but your case is not yet processed, Infopass might help, as the officer might request to move your case up. No harm in giving a try.

[dwhuser]

Originally Posted by fromnaija

The above part of your submission is not true. If you read the I-485 Adjudicator's Manual, you will find that the file is already opened and input into the system at this stage. Otherwise dwhuser would not have received I-797 Notice of Action.

In theory action on a case should be sequenced by priority date and then received date within the priority date batch. However, nobody knows for sure how USCIS works each case.

In the above scenario notice date acts as the receipt date and the received date mentioned on the I 797C is just a mail received date. I just called Customer service and confirmed that a receipt number is issued to an application on the notice date and mentioned on the case status. Hmm...that puts us in a backseat. Although we are officially current on priority date, technically it doesn't apply and we will have to let it pass and wait for... who knows another year

Also, there is something I wanted to ask I was looking at our I 797C (I485 receipt notice) and found that the Priority date cell is blank. I have checked another I-797 (I-140 approval notice) and it is mentioned there though. Is this common ?

[jsb]

Originally Posted by dwhuser

...
Also, there is something I wanted to ask I was looking at our I 797C (I485 receipt notice) and found that the Priority date cell is blank. I have checked another I-797 (I-140 approval notice) and it is mentioned there though. Is this common ?

Yes, PD has no significance until case is ripe for final adjudication. Sometimes they don't care, as it has to be filled in manually. When I got my GC (a few months ago), the approval notice I received had every date cell (including PD cell) filled with the date of my final approval. It didn't make any sense, but it didn't matter.