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The Immigrant Visa Process

Step 6: Submit Documents to the NVC

After you collect your Affidavit of Support form(s) and financial evidence in Step 4, and supporting documents in Step 5, you must submit all of your forms, financial evidence, and photocopies of your original civil documents in ONE package to the NVC. Your case may be significantly delayed if you fail to submit all of your documents in one package.

Review the methods below, and choose the one that applies to your case.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Immigrant visa (IV) applicants currently working with the National Visa Center (NVC) to complete their IV applications should make sure NVC has a working e-mail address for at least one party on their case.  (A case party is the petitioner, beneficiary, or agent/attorney.)  If you have not previously given NVC an e-mail address where you can be contacted, please call 1-603-334-0700 to provide your e-mail information.  When you call, have your case number, petitioner’s full name, and the beneficiary’s full name and date of birth available.  NVC will then be able to e-mail you information and instructions rather than send them via traditional mail, which means you will receive items like NVC’s responses to submitted documents and notice of your visa interview appointment more quickly.

Method 1: Email processing

If your NVC case number begins with one of the following prefixes:

  • AKD
  • AMM
  • BGH (except I-730 petitions)
  • DMS
  • GZO

Scan and save your financial forms and evidence, supporting civil documents, and translations as a PDF file. Then send them to NVCelectronic@state.gov as attachments to an email. Please type your case number in the subject line of the email. You can attach multiple PDFs to a single email, but each PDF can be no more than 5 MB (megabytes) in size. If you have more than one case number, use a different email message for each case. For more information, review our Document Scanning FAQs.

Method 2: Choice of processing

If Your NVC Case Number Begins With And Your Visa Category Is You Can Choose Either
MTL Any immigrant visa category Email Processing or Mail Processing
GUZ CR1, CR2, F1, F2A, F2B, F3, F4, IR1, IR2 or IR5 Email Processing or Mail Processing
ADD, BNS, FRN, GTM, HNK, KEV, MRV, PHP, RDJ, SYD, TGG, or THT IR1, IR2, IR5, CR1, or CR2 Email Processing or Mail Processing

Important: Once you select a method, you cannot switch methods later in the process.

Method 3: Mail processing

If neither Method 1: Email processing nor Method 2: Choice of processing applies to your case, mail your financial forms and evidence, supporting documents, translations, and photocopies, with the Document Cover Sheet included with your NVC Welcome Letter, to the following address:

National Visa Center
Attn: DR
31 Rochester Ave. Suite 100
Portsmouth, NH  03801-2914

If your Document Cover Sheet is missing, you can print a new one online. Go to ceac.state.gov and click on “Fee Payment” under the “Immigrant” category. You will be asked to enter your NVC case number and Invoice ID number. After doing so, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Print Document Cover Sheet” button. You can also choose to email yourself a copy of your document cover sheet for printing at a later time.

NVC cannot accept documents saved on any form of electronic media, including CDs and memory cards.  If you send any electronic media to NVC, we will return it to you unopened.

Please allow up to 6 weeks for NVC to review your forms and documents once we receive both the financial documents from the petitioner and the applicant’s civil documents. You must also have paid all required fees and submitted a DS-260 Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application online at ceac.state.gov. We will not review your file until we have received all of the above requested items. At that time, we will let you know if there are additional items required or if visa pre-processing is complete.

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Next Step: Interview

 

Who's Involved

National Visa Center

After petition approval, the National Visa Center (NVC) handles processing for certain kinds of documents, sending them onward to U.S. Embassies & Consulates.

When and how to Contact NVC

More Information

A Guide for New Immigrants