U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is responsible for reviewing and adjudicating applications for immigration benefits in the United States. The main physical locations tasked with these responsibilities are known as “Service Centers” and until recently there have been 5 Service Centers: Nebraska Service Center (NSC), Texas Service Center (TSC), California Service Center (CSC), Vermont Service Center (VSC), and Potomac Service Center (PSC).

In March 2023, USCIS announced the creation of a new Service Center known as the “HART Service Center”. “HART” is an abbreviation for “Humanitarian, Adjustment, Removing Conditions, and Travel Documents”. Definitely a mouthful to say so the abbreviation helps. You’ll also notice that it’s the only Service Center that doesn’t have its location in the name, and that’s because it will be a virtual service.

The stated purpose of this Service Center is to help address the backlog of cases for some of the more vulnerable applicants for immigration benefits that have been negatively impacted by long processing times. These include the following cases:

• “Bona Fide Determinations” for U visa applicants. Currently processed by the VSC and NSC, this should hopefully cut back significantly on the wait times, which are currently listed at approximately 5 years!
• Petitions for VAWA status (VAWA = Violence Against Women Act). These petitions to help victims of violence in certain relationships are currently averaging a wait time of 2.5 years with the VSC.
• I-601A provisional waivers for unlawful status. Currently processed by the PSC and NSC, and averaging 3+ years, these long-pending waivers are often the subject of lawsuits by applicants that are tired of the long
• I-730 petitions for family members of asylees. Currently processed by the NSC and TSC, family members are kept waiting an average of 1-2 years before they can be safely reunited.

If your immigration case is one of those listed, then once the HART Service Center is up and running, you can expect for your wait times to be cut back significantly. But, it does take time to get things up and running and the HART Service Center is not expected to be fully operational until the fall of 2024. Until then, you may be stuck pursuing alternative routes to speed up your case. (add hyperlink to the article “3 ways to speed up your immigration case”)

Last Updated: 4.15.2023 (*Note That Immigration Rules, Regulations, And Practices Change Frequently. Make Sure To Check For Updated Information Since The Posting Of This Article.)