For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought or to any district or division to which all parties have consented.

Upon motion, consent or stipulation of all parties, any action, suit or proceeding of a civil nature or any motion or hearing thereof, may be transferred, in the discretion of the court, from the division in which pending to any other division in the same district. Transfer of proceedings in rem brought by or on behalf of the United States may be transferred under this section without the consent of the United States where all other parties request transfer.

A district court may order any civil action to be tried at any place within the division in which it is pending.

Transfers from a district court of the United States to the District Court of Guam, the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, or the District Court of the Virgin Islands shall not be permitted under this section. As otherwise used in this section, the term “district court” includes the District Court of Guam, the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, and the District Court of the Virgin Islands, and the term “district” includes the territorial jurisdiction of each such court.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 937; Pub. L. 87–845, § 9, Oct. 18, 1962, 76A Stat. 699; Pub. L. 104–317, title VI, § 610(a), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3860; Pub. L. 112–63, title II, § 204, Dec. 7, 2011, 125 Stat. 764.)