In order to permanently reside in the United States, an eligible individual—such as immediate relatives or other family members of U.S. citizens and aliens who wish to become a U.S. lawful permanent resident for employment or special reasons—can apply for a green card.
But the person must get a petition from a U.S. citizen or green card holder residing in the United States first. They have to file it with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). If it’s approved, USCIS will send the petition to NVC for processing.
If you happen to file it, how can you know that your case is complete at NVC?
Knowing When the NVC Has Completed Your Case
The process of your case at NVC is fully complete if they have forwarded all required forms and documents to the U.S. embassy or consulate to process your green card application.
Here’s how it flows:
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Stage |
Processing |
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1. |
After receiving your petition from USCIS, the National Visa Center (NVC) will begin to process it by creating a case in its system. Then, they’ll grant you a case number by sending a Welcome Letter either via email or mail. |
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2. |
The letter will contain your case number, an invoice number, and a beneficiary ID number. And these can be used to check your status, manage your case, and receive messages by logging into your Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) first. |
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3. |
Afterwards, you can submit Form DS-261, and the instructions can be found on the NVC’s Welcome Letter. The Form DS-261: Online Choice of Address and Agent can allow you to ask for current contact information and select an agent to receive communications during the green card application process. |
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4. |
NVC took about three weeks to process the DS-261. Once the process is complete, you’ll need to pay a total of approximately $445 for the following two fees:
The processing fee for applying for an employment-based green card is about $345. |
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5. |
Once you’ve paid the fees for Form DS-261, you can then file Form DS-260: Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application, which can be accessed on the CEAC website.
It is known that Form DS-260 is the primary green card application administered by the U.S. Department of State for relatives who live abroad. |
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6. |
After the Form DS-260 is sent, NVC will then send out a notice either by email or mail notifying you of DS-260 receipt. You can then submit the supporting documents to the NVC, but it depends on which U.S. Embassy or consulate is processing your application. |
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7 |
Last, NVC will forward all of the documents to the U.S. Embassy or consulate, which will schedule and conduct your immigrant visa interview. |
It is important to note that you have to submit these documents according to NVC instructions. However, some U.S. consulates require a physical copy, while others let applicants to submit a digital copy via email or upload.
How Long Does the NVC Take to Process Your Application?
When it comes to the NVC timeframes to process your application, they generally process most cases within 2.5 months. But it can also depend on multiple factors, including:
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- The type of your application
- Your priority date
- Any errors on your forms
- Any delays in processing your payment
- Whether or not you have all the required supporting documents.
For example, if you file an application for a temporary status, like a tourist visa, NVC can handle your entire case. But if you file an application for permanent status, like a green card, NVC cannot handle it alone. It will require several agencies, including USCIS, NVC, and your local embassy or consulate.
Whether you have submitted all required documents and paid all required fees will also determine how long NVC will process your application.
The following are documents that you need to include on your application:
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- The type of your application forms, such as DS-260, DS-261, etc.
- Petitioner’s form, such as Form I-864: affidavit of support, Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, or Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker.
- Support financial information.
- Supporting documents required by the applicant.
The point is, the longer it takes you to file those documents, the longer it will take NVC to process your application.
If necessary, you can check out the up-to-date NVC processing times on the U.S. State Department website.
How to Know If NVC Starts to Process Your Case
You can know whether NVC is processing your case by checking your case status. To do so, you can use the visa status checker tool. And you may have your case number, which can be found on a welcome letter that NVC sent you early in the application process.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to doing so!
Step 1: Access CEAC
You can go to the CEAC on the Department of States website here. https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx
Once you’re at the page, you can select your visa application type from the drop-down menu, either an Immigrant Visa or Non-Immigrant Visa.
Step 2: Enter your visa case number
Then, enter your visa case number in the portal without any spaces between the characters.
For an immigrant visa number, it contains 13 characters that usually have three letters at the beginning, which are followed by 10 numbers.
For non-immigrant visa numbers, there are several different formats, but they are always 8 characters long, which could be 8 numbers or one letter, followed by seven numbers.
Don’t forget to enter the code. Then, click “Submit.”
Step 3: See your case status at NVC
Wait for a few minutes until the new page brings up your NVC case status. What you see on the tracker is the latest update for your case.
However, it doesn’t notify you what you should do next, but it may give you information about where your case is in the process.
Why do you get an error message when checking your case at NVC? It usually happens if you enter your visa number incorrectly or select the wrong visa category, such as entering a non-immigrant visa in the immigrant visa tracker or otherwise, entering your immigrant visa number in the non-immigrant visa tracker.
About the National Visa Center (NVC)
The acronym “NVC” is one of the terms you will most often see when applying for a green card for aliens to become permanent residents of the United States through the consular process.
Headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the National Visa Center (NVC) is a government agency that is part of the US Department of State. This is the center for all immigrant visa applications.
NVC conducts initial reviews of submitted applications and processes green cards and other family-based immigration applications. Then, they will forward the approved petition to the US Embassy or Consulate for final processing.
For more details, see the following tasks that NVC carries out:
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- Checking any forms and documents in support of the visa application.
- Collecting the fees for immigrant visas.
- Making an immigrant visa interview schedule.
- Providing interview instructions to applicants.
- Send the completed case file to the consular officer for an interview.
- Provide customer service to applicants.
NVC Contact Information
Even if you understand the entire visa application process at NVC, you may need to contact NVC for several reasons. Luckily, you can contact NVC customer support via:
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- Phone Call: You can contact them at 1-603-334-0700. From Monday to Friday at 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., EST (New Hampshire).
- Email: You can send them an email at support-NVC@state.gov
- Form: You can fill out an online inquiry form to ask a question here.
To note: The NVC will not accept any applications or inquiries on weekends or holidays, and they’re also closed for U.S. government holidays.
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