NVC – National Visa Center

A couple things could be at play here with the National Visa Center stage they’ve switched over to electronic document processing. That means you have to scan and upload the documents now. We’ve had experience with this here at RapidVisa, and if your format is not exactly correct they reject the documents. So you may have to submit them over and over and over.

"My wife in Nicaragua changed her cell phone number. Do we need to inform the USCIS?" Yes, it is highly recommended that you update any and all information as soon as it changes. Especially the cell phone number. The reason being is because the consulate sends text messages. Basically, you filled out a form that […]

If you go to the NVC website, they’re actually posting on there right now do not even contact them until after 60 days. So if you call them before that, they’ll tell you the normal processing time is 60 days. But I wouldn’t wait much longer after that. I would give them a call, if it’s at the 60 day window. As most of you may know, the NVC and the USCIS are all backed up right now.

From our experience, once you get the approval you should be getting the instructions after you receive the NOA2, which is a Notice of Action indicating approval of your application. But if you have not heard anything, we highly recommend you call the National Visa Center or check your status online.

The USCIS issued a memo on December 22 stating that fee-funded activities will not be affected. None of the visa types RapidVisa handles will be impeded from filing and continuing with processing based on this memo. Programs directly affected at the USCIS level are EB-5 investor visas, Conrad 30 Waiver Program for J-1 medical doctors, […]

Prior to 2018, it used to take about four to six weeks to get the invoice from the NVC. The invoice is going to be a request for payment for your affidavit support and for your DS-260 visa application. When you receive that invoice, you’ll pay those fees online, and then along with that letter, you’ll also receive what’s called the NVC Checklist.

Back a year or two ago, this used to take four to six weeks. Unfortunately, they are scrutinizing petitions more so now than they have in the past. The National Visa Center is also backlogged with cases, so you’re probably looking at about four to eight weeks right now, maybe even a little bit longer.

Once a petition’s approved by the USCIS, you’ll get an invoice from the NVC by email. It’s going to take a few weeks, could take up to a month before you get it. But, once you get it, you actually have up to a year. Obviously you don’t want to wait that long.

For various reasons, some of which you may never really find out, your case, you may get an update from the State Department that tells you your case is in “Administrative Processing“, or AP. What that means in terms of immigration matters, is that there is something about your case that they don’t like, so they’re going to take a little longer to look at your case.

The CR1 visa process is quite a bit different from the K1 visa process, specially when it comes to the National Visa Center. As far as processing times, the longest processing time is with the USCIS. You’re looking at easily about five to six months at the USCIS for the removal of conditions.