Visa office change question?

[injuredcold]

Hi Guys,
I am from Pakistan being sponsored by my wife. My case was transferred to Islamabad-Pakistan and has been in processing according to the website. I also received file number through a letter in January, 2010.

The problem is that I moved to New York, US on work visa this February till September, 2011.
So, should I transfer my case to New York office or Buffalo? Will it affect processing time that has already passed? Whats the procedure if should I be changing the visa office? I am assuming that I need to send them an email with my file number.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[RobsLuv]

Because your work visa is valid for at least one year (it looks like, anyway) you are eligible to have your case transferred to Buffalo - but it's hard to determine whether it would be to your advantage to transfer. Islamabad is processing cases in 7-14 months, and they've already had your file for about 4 months. If your case is relatively straight-forward and you've already passed "initial assessment" and it's been determined that an interview is not necessary, you could be only a few months away from finalization . . . and you will lose processing time with the transfer. Also, it's not entirely clear whether Buffalo will just pick up where Islamabad left off or not.

On the other hand, if you're going to be required to attend an interview, it would likely be much more convenient to do that in Buffalo. And, in the end, if you can't post your passport over international borders to get it to Islamabad to receive your COPR, you'll have to deliver it in person and that might be inconvenient also. So only you can really decide whether the convenience of finishing through Buffalo would be worth a delay in processing time. You will at least need to change your address with Islamabad. I believe there is information, or a change of address form, included with the acknowledgment letter you got that contains your file number. If you send that in, you could also send a written request to have your file transferred. Don't forget to include a copy of your work visa, so they can verify that you're eligible, and also I'd suggest that you track the mailing and get delivery confirmation. And I'd ask for confirmation from them that your case will be transferred - but don't really expect to hear anything from them. Buffalo isn't known for being particularly communicative. IF you decide you'd rather have your case continue to be processed in Islamabad, be sure you tell them that when you send the change of address. I don't know whether they'd automatically transfer it after receiving an address change request - but it'd be a shame if you decided to finish up there and then they transferred anyway and you lost processing time you didn't intend to lose.

 

[injuredcold]

Thanks for the detailed reply, really appreciate it.

From the looks of it, the best bet would be to wait for answer from them and hope they don't call for an interview. If they do call for an interview then I could request them for change of address/visa office to avoid un-necessary/unexpected delays.

One last thing, I was thinking of paying a visit to my family in Canada from US. It is required in the form to specify if I have applied for immigration. I am going to put the reference of my case there but does it effect my chances of being granted the visa to visit?

Thanks once again.

 

[dr_sarwat]

Hi,
As far as I know, you cannot transfer your file from Pakistan to Buffalo, there is no such rule. You have to cancel you previous application and file a new one in Buffalo.

Hope this helps