National Visa Center (NVC) - A Primer with some Pro Tips

The U.S. Department of State's NVC is a critical processing facility for immigrant visas. Individuals often process cases through NVC without an attorney - here are some tips and insights!

The purpose of this post is to provide a brief overview of the National Visa Center (NVC) and how it functions.

Further into the article (after the paywall!) - I have included some “Pro Tips” for hopefully faster processing and to manage recurring issues.

• If you are new to U.S. immigration law, I encourage you to read my overview of U.S. immigration law post. You can find it here.

• I have also written a primer on EB-2 NIW, which is a route to a green card and is available to self-petitioners worldwide to self-petition without an employer sponsor for a green card (U.S. permanent resident status). To be clear - Just because ANYONE can file an EB-2 NIW petition does NOT mean ANYONE can get an EB-2 NIW petition approved. To know more about the basics of EB-2 NIW, check this out.

• Further, regarding EB-2 NIW, I have also posted some case studies to help people understand how USCIS reviews cases. I plan to do a series of posts about EB-2 NIW and O-1/EB-1 so people can understand the criteria and build their own profile. I hope the newsletter format is a useful and cost-effective way to obtain credible information about the challenging (and frustrating) U.S. immigration laws.

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What is the NVC?

The National Visa Center (NVC) is a facility managed by the U.S. Department of State.

The NVC has various functions but one of its main functions is to handle paperwork for people who are all over the world and are seeking immigrant visas (permanent resident visas). What generally happens when people are outside the United States and seeking a green card -

• An I-130 petition (family petition) or I-140 petition (employment-based petition) is filed with the U.S. Immigration Service (USCIS) in the United States.

  • I-130 petitions are generally filed by relatives.

  • I-140 petitions are generally filed by employers with the exception of EB-1A and EB-2 NIW petitions which can be filed as self-petitions.

• After the petition (I-130 for family or I-140 for employment) is approved by USCIS, then the approval notice is sent to the NVC where additional paperwork is completed and submitted by the immigrant and his family.

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To be clear, immigration attorneys do regularly advise clients on preparing and submitting documentation to NVC, but the NVC stage is also part of the process where many people handle the process without an attorney. I do not have strong feelings either way.

• Some people are not good with paperwork and really do need an attorney to submit everything properly.

• Some people want peace of mind and want to pay an attorney to ‘do it right’.

• Some people want to save money and do the NVC process on their own.

The information requested by the NVC is generally biographic in nature and if the immigrant is an English-speaking professional who is pretty good with paperwork, then he or she can often manage the NVC process on their own.

For those not familiar with the U.S. immigration system, it is important to remember that USCIS is one agency of the U.S. government and USCIS is essentially a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, whereas NVC is part of a separate agency, the U.S. Department of State. This is important to know because within the U.S. government, there is a surprising (and frustrating) amount of dysfunction getting one agency to communicate with another one. And that is something you will experience in dealing with the NVC. NVC does not communicate well with USCIS.

• The U.S. Department of State, which operates the NVC, also operates the U.S. consulates worldwide.

• The NVC basically exists as a U.S.-based facility to handle a lot of the preliminary paperwork for all the U.S. consulates worldwide so the consular officers at the U.S. consulates are not bogged down with immigrant visa paperwork.

• While there are a few country-specific distinctions, for the most part the NVC processing is the same for all U.S. consulates involved in immigrant visa processing.

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Note also: While there might only be one I-130 family petition or one I-140 employment-based petition filed and approved at USCIS, at the NVC stage, each person seeking an immigrant visa must complete paperwork and pay fees.

So there might be one I-140 petition for what is known as the “principal applicant,” but then at the NVC stage there might be 4 immigrant visa applications for the principal applicant, his wife, and two unmarried children under age 21.

The NVC process will have separate government fees and separate visa application forms for each person immigrating, not just one form for the principal applicant.

To reiterate, there might be only one I-140 but 4 immigrant visa cases for a family of 4.

Dealing with the NVC involves dealing with the NVC’s online/email communications combined with sending hard copies by courier/mail.

• The more efficient you are, the less often you have to deal with NVC.

• The more times you have to communicate with NVC, the longer your case will take because NVC is VERY SLOW at communicating.

• NVC is just very slow and the more you can do to understand how NVC works, the faster your case can go through NVC and get to the U.S. consulate.

• Further, instructions are opaque and obtaining information and the updates is not easy. Communications are often deliberately vague.

One of the main forms that is processed through the NVC is the immigrant visa form.

• The main immigrant visa application form is called DS-260.

• The U.S. Department of State publishes extensive information about the DS-260 here.

• Note that the DS-260 is an online form and the interface to populate the form is extremely frustrating; in fact every visa application form maintained by the U.S. Department of State is extremely frustrating. So brace yourself for an unpleasant ‘customer experience.’ This is not Amazon!

In many instances, particularly family-based immigration, the immigrant will also have to submit something called the Affidavit of Support. In EB (Employment-Based) immigration, except in certain rare circumstances, there is no Affidavit of Support.

The U.S. Department of State maintains a website with extensive information about the NVC. That website is here.

There is also a step-by-step explanation of NVC processing here.

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What follows beyond the pay-wall are some practical tips (Pro Tips!) and insights in the following areas that will hopefully facilitate faster processing through NVC, with less headaches…

• Timing from USCIS to NVC;

• Paying NVC fees;

• Uploading documents (file size limits);

• Follow-to-Join;

• Affidavit of Support - tax transcripts;

• One-Year Rule;

• Expedite Requests;

• Change of Venue;

• Third Country Processing;

• Special Note - Russians;

• Special Note - Iranians.

These tips are up-to-date as of July 2022.