A case pending with one office or officer may be transferred to another officer or jurisdiction without action for several reasons, such as:

·     the case was misfiled and jurisdiction belongs to another office

·     the applicant moved to another jurisdiction

·     a case pending with a service center adjudicator appears to warrant a personal interview in a local office

·     an officer is transferred to other duties and a supervisory officer transfers pending casework to another officer in the same jurisdiction

·     regulations require movement of a case to another office for specific action.

The transfer of a case should be carefully considered before action. Jurisdictional issues should, if possible, be settled before the initial officer spends significant time on the case.

Before leaving his or her current position, an officer being transferred to another position, assignment or office should be given time to complete cases his or she had started, rather than reassigning unfinished work to another officer. Cases being transferred from a service center to a local office for interview or investigation should be reviewed by a supervisory officer before the transfer is initiated to ensure that the matter cannot be readily resolved through in-house research: a phone call to an emp loyer, review of existing files, or use of readily available research tools. Such a transfer results in a significant additional workload for USCIS . While this may be a very valuable and effective tool in certain circumstances, it should not be abused–used as a way of "dumping" difficult cases.