Immigrant Visa Processing - The National Visa Center (NVC)

Translation - Español (.pdf)

The National Visa Center (NVC) collects immigrant visa application forms, Affidavit of Support forms, and fee payments for US Embassies and US Consulates.

Fee Collection

At the appropriate time, the NVC will send the Affidavit of Support fee invoice to the petitioner and the Immigrant Visa Processing fee invoice to the applicant or the applicant's designated agent. If an attorney is representing the applicant, the attorney will receive both invoices.

[Note – if adjusting status: If you will be applying for your immigrant visa in the United States by adjusting your status with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), you should contact the National Visa Center before taking further action or making payments.]

If you need to submit payment, you have two options:

Next Steps- After you have paid your fees, follow the detailed instructions in the “Document Collection” section below.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: On January 2nd, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that immediate relatives of U.S. citizens present in the United States, who are in the process of seeking immigrant visas with the Department of State to become lawful U.S. permanent residents, may apply for I-601A provisional unlawful presence waivers before departing the United States to attend their immigrant visa interviews.  USCIS will begin accepting provisional unlawful presence waivers on March 4th, 2013. 

If you would like to apply for a provisional unlawful presence waiver, please take the following steps:

STEP A - Review the Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver News Release on the USCIS Website to determine if you might meet the requirements. If you meet the requirements, you may choose to apply for the waiver in accordance with the instructions on the USCIS webpage.

STEP B - Notify the National Visa Center (NVC) or Post: Before applying for the I-601A, you must notify NVC if you choose to seek a provisional unlawful presence waiver and have a pending immigrant visa case at NVC. If you do not notify NVC, your case may be scheduled for interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. If NVC has scheduled your immigrant visa appointment, you must notify the immigrant visa processing post where your appointment has been scheduled before applying for the provisional waiver. For more information on how to notify NVC or post, click here.

NOTE: Applicants with an interview appointment letter from the National Visa Center dated before January 3rd, 2013 are not eligible to file the I-601A. Only applicants scheduled by the National Visa Center on or after January 3rd, 2013 for an upcoming initial immigrant visa interview are eligible to apply for the I-601A. “Scheduled” means the date on which NVC took the action to schedule the case – not the date of the visa interview appointment. NVC dates interview appointment letters on the day it schedules a case, so refer to the appointment notification letter to see when NVC took the scheduling action. 

Document Collection

If the NVC has requested applicant documents or Affidavit of Support documents, click on the appropriate link below:

Notice: Do not submit documents unless they were requested by the NVC.

Interview Preparation

When the NVC notifies the applicant that an interview has been scheduled, click on the link below to begin preparing for the interview:

Notice: You should not begin interview preparation without notification from the NVC. The interview preparation instructions are for all U.S. Embassies and Consulates General that issue immigrant visas.