We recently informed readers that the Missouri Service Center is about to be re-designated the National Benefits Center and will be handling preliminary data entry for many types of cases. We're now getting more information on this major development in immigration processing.

Apparently the change is imminent. The BCIS already has the Federal Register notice ready to publish and is waiting on some final approvals in Congress before releasing the announcement. Once the announcement is made, the program will begin 60 days later. It will be phased in starting in the west (Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado). Every 60 days new states will be phased in and the order will be determined on a clockwise basis (presumably with the Midwestern states, then the East Coast, then the South and then the Southwest).

The program will start with I-485 family-based, battered spouse-based and green card lottery-based adjustment of status filings. N-400s will be phased in later. According to reports from a meeting between the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the BCIS, how quickly N-400s are phased in will be determined by how well I-485 processing goes. Right now, N-400s are filed at the service center level and the change here merely means that a different service center will eventually be handling the filings. But for adjustment filings, the new system represents a major change.

Cases handled by the new NBC will actually be sent to a Chicago processing center where the fee will be processed and documents scanned for electronic transfer to the NBC. The Chicago office will also generate a receipt notice directing applicants to an Application Support Center (ASC) for photos and fingerprinting. The applications will then be sent to Missouri for further processing. Once the case is received in Missouri, examiners will review the cases to make sure that basic requirements are met, run the IBIS security screening and adjudicate the I-131 and I-765 travel and work document applications. BCIS will be able to use the fingerprint provided at the ASC for generating the employment authorization document. LOCAL BCIS OFFICES WILL NO LONGER ISSUE EAD CARDS UNDER THE PLAN. After the EAD card is issued and the FBI background check is completed, the file will be forwarded to a local district office for further processing.

One benefit of the new system will be the ability to check on the status of cases using the BCIS' online status inquiry system. But this will be coupled with the removal of any access to information officers to determine what is happening on a case (see our Openers section of this newsletter for more on this issue).

The MSC is beefing up its staffing for the new workload though they are telling AILA that they can handle the workload with existing staff.