Has the New Texas Service Center Filing Location for O and P Visas Changed Anything?
As some of you know, as of October 1, 2023 there has been a change in filing location for the Form I-129 petitions for O and P visa applications. These petitions should now be mailed to USCIS’ Texas Service Center (TSC), rather than to the California Service Center (CSC) or the Vermont Service Center (VSC). The new TSC mailing address is listed on the USCIS website here, in the sections for Os and Ps.
We’ve gotten some questions about whether processing times have been slower or there have been other problems resulting from this mailing address change. In fact, what we have been seeing and hearing to date is that although TSC is doing the initial intake of the O and P petitions, the petitions are then being transferred to VSC or CSC for processing. In good news, generally speaking the processing is happening smoothly, with fast processing times for regularly-filed cases. That said, we’ve gotten a few reports of USCIS delays or USCIS neglecting to send receipt notices since the filing address changed.