What Happens After I-485 Interview When The Priority Date Is Not Current?

Ever since USCIS started requiring interviews for employment-based I-485 adjustment of status applications in October of 2017, a very common question, especially nationals of India and China whose priority dates are not current is, “What happens to my I-485 after the interview and until my priority date is current?”

Interviewed I-485 Cases Normally Transferred to NBC or TSC

After the I-485 interview is concluded without issues and if the priority date of the primary applicant is not current, USCIS will hold the case in abeyance until the priority date becomes current and an immigrant visa becomes available. USCIS has confirmed that they will hold employment based cases either at the National Benefits Center (cases receipted on or after March 6, 2017) or at the Texas Service Center (cases receipted prior to March 6, 2017). Family-based cases are transferred and held at the National Benefits Center.

It is also possible that at the conclusion of the I-485 interview the adjudicator would request additional information or documents from the applicant and in this situation the case would normally remain at the field office until the request is resolved and then transferred to either the National Benefits or the Texas Service Centers.

What Happens After the Priority Date Becomes Current?

It is not USCIS’s practice to notify an applicant when their priority date becomes current. It is up to the Applicants to check the Visa Bulletin and determine if their priority visa is current; however, this is often not required. When a case’s priority date becomes current (or sometimes shortly before that), USCIS would review the case and identify any new issues such as expired medicals and issue an RFE. If there are no such outstanding issues, USCIS would normally request a visa number be allocated to a case and approve it once the visa number is allocated by the Department of State.

There is no standard processing time for when a case is to be approved once its priority date becomes current. According to USCIS, this may take months:

Due to the number of immigrant visa numbers that become available on the first date of each month, and the fact that many cases may require updated evidence, it may take several months before USCIS is able to complete the adjudication of some cases.

Conclusion

We understand that waiting for a decision on a pending I-485 after a priority date becomes current may be frustrating especially after having waited for years for a current priority date. Our experience suggests that very often an I-485 application will be adjudicated (approved) or issued a request for evidence (if required) within two to four weeks after its priority date being current.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any help in preparing or otherwise assisting with I-485 applications or the required interview process.    Also, please feel free to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to obtain developments on this and related topics.