What is the USCIS National Benefits Center?

A question a lot of people ask and surprisingly few people can answer: what exactly does the USCIS National Benefits Center (NBC) do? In today’s blog entry, I’ll spend some time going over this critical office’s history, purpose, and what it means if your case is located here.

 First up, what is the NBC exactly? This office was established in the early 2000s as the Missouri Service Center and located in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. It’s primary role at its inception was to process applications related to the LIFE act, but it quickly grew in its mission. In fact, it added a second location in nearby Overland Park, Kansas and a third (mostly for storage) location in Lee’s Summit due to its ever-expanding mission. Over the years, it moved from being part of the Service Center Operations Directorate (SCOPS) and adjudicating forms from start to finish, to becoming part of the Field Operations Directorate (FOD) which it remains under today.

 Within FOD, the NBC has a unique role and mission. The main purpose of the NBC now is to serve as a centralized, pre-processing center for all forms requiring an interview that go out to the nearly 100 field offices in FOD. These primary forms are the N-400, Application for Naturalization, and the I-485, Application for Permanent Resident Status. With these forms, the NBC does most of the “front-end” processing work including background checks, payment validations, and ensuring each application has the required evidence needed for an officer at a field office to make a final adjudication. The NBC also adjudicates several categories of the Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, Form I-131, Application for Travel Authorization, Form I-360, Special Immigrant Juvenile, and form I-130 for non-citizen adoptees.

Supporting the NBC mission are roughly 900 federal USCIS employees and another 1,000 or so contract workers. These contract workers serve many important functions at the NBC including file and mail receipt and movement, initial application review, and manual name harvesting (MNH). MNH involves a person (officer or contractor) meticulously scanning an entire application for any and all name and date of birth variations for the primary applicant. This is a critical and required step prior to any background check being completed for an application.

 Finally, what does it mean for you, the applicant, if your form is located at the NBC? For most forms, it simply means that your application is not yet at its final step…for the most part. You may receive an RFE (Request for Evidence) from an officer or contractor however, and if you don’t respond or an officer feels your response is not adequate, your case may be denied at the NBC. But if you are waiting on a work permit or travel document that you filed alongside your green card, this office will be the one issuing it.

 I spent over 10 years as an officer and supervisor at the NBC, with many of those in the customer service division of the office, helping applicants resolve any number of issues with their cases. If you wish to file an application that the NBC processes and would like to do so with an attorney that knows the ins-and-outs of this office, please reach out and schedule a consultation with me.