NVC

The National Visa Center (NVC) is the body mandated to process the approved immigrant visa petitions. Once an individual files an immigration petition, it is first verified by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Once it has been scrutinized, the approved visa petitions are then sent to the NVC for processing. The NVC retains all the petitions until such a time as when they will be adjudicated by the consular office in the beneficiary’s country.

The other role of the NVC is to process K1 and K3 cases for consular interviews after they have been approved by the USCIS. K1 are petition cases for fiancées and fiancés, while K3 are petition cases for nonimmigrant spouses of US Citizens. After petition, these relatives are usually scheduled for interviews in their home embassies in order to verify their marriage status to the petitioner.

It is possible for a petitioner or beneficiary to monitor the progress of the petition. This is done by entering the CIS number or the NVC case number after calling the automated NVC phone line. A touch tone telephone has to be used for this to be effective.

One can also get information about the status of their petition by emailing the NVC. Details that one needs to provide for this to be effective include their NVC/CIS case number, the name and date of birth of the petitioner, your full name (if you are not the beneficiary or petitioner) and the company/organization name in case of employment-based petitions. It is advisable to ask for information for single cases in each email.