USCIS New Central NJ Field Office

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Some applicants wonder why their immigration cases were transferred from Newark to another office in New Jersey. Last year, the USCIS has opened a new field office in Central New Jersey, located in Cranbury. According to USCIS, this strategic addition aims to better serve the growing needs of immigrants and applicants residing in the region.

For many years, USCIS has two field offices in New Jersey located in Newark and Cherry Hill (later moved to Mt. Laurel).  The Newark Field Office serves mostly applicants from north New Jersey, while the Mt. Laurel Field Office is designed to serve the communities in south New Jersey.  Over the years, as the population of the immigrant communities increases, the resources of these offices have been stretched to the limit, especially the Newark Field Office.  

New Jerseyans often argue exactly where the dividing line is between North and South New Jersey.  Because of its central location, Newark has had to handle extremely large number of immigration cases from applicants located in both North and South New Jersey.  The driving distance between Newark and Mt. Laurel is about an hour and 30 minutes during rush hours.  Hence, to avoid making applicants drive long distances, USCIS would assign cases in central Jersey to Newark.

The establishment of the Central New Jersey Field office is aimed at relieving the workload of the other two field offices.  Situated in Cranbury, a township located near the mid-point between Newark and Mt. Laurel, the new USCIS field office will handle the immigrant cases of applicants who reside in Central New Jersey. 

Just like the other field offices, the Central NJ field office is a full-service office that handles all common immigration cases. including naturalization testing and interviews, interviews of green card applicants based on family relationship or employment offers.  biometric appointments, and other usual immigration processes. Ya-Mei Chen, a Chinese immigrant, is the Field Office Director in charge of the Central NJ field office. 

Currently, the processing times at Newark Field Office are still relatively long: 9.5 months for N-400 naturalization applications; 18 months for family-based I-485 applications; and 21.5 months for employment-based I-485 applications.  The addition of the Central Jersey Field Office should alleviate the workload of the other offices and shorten the case processing times.  

Located at 8 Cedarbrook Dr, Cranbury, NJ 08512, the Central NJ Field Office has brand new offices with ample parking spaces.  Applicants should not be concerned if their cases are transferred to this office. 

(Immigration laws and policies change regularly.  If you have any questions regarding this article, please visit www.1visa1.com to schedule a legal consultation.)