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Visa Information
GENERAL INFORMATION In April of 1994 the Department of State
opened a permanent Immigrant Visa processing facility at the National
Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, NH. NVC processes all approved immigrant
visa petitions after they are received from Citizenship and Immigration
Services in the Department of Homeland Security (CIS) and retains them
until the cases are ready for adjudication by a consular officer abroad.
Petitions may remain at NVC for several months or for many years depending
on the visa category and country of birth of the visa applicant. When
an applicant's case is about to become current (a visa number is likely
to be available within the year), the petition is forwarded to the appropriate
U.S. embassy or consulate overseas. If an applicant is adjusting status
in the U.S., the case will be forwarded to the appropriate CIS office
upon request by that office.
NVC ROLE AND FORMS
When an applicant's priority date is close to becoming current , NVC
will send an Affidavit of Support (I-864 form) processing fee bill to
the petitioner and an Agent of Choice and Address (DS-3032) form to the
applicant. Once the I-864 processing fee is paid, NVC will send the I-864
forms and instructions to the petitioner. Once NVC receives the form DS-3032
from the applicant, NVC will mail the Immigrant Visa (IV) fee bill to
the agent of choice. Once the IV fee bill is paid, NVC will send the Instruction
Packet of forms and information to the agent. The exact contents of the
Instruction Packet will depend on where the applicant will be interviewed
for a visa. For instance, the Instruction Packet we send to people applying
in China is different from the one we send to applicants in France. Information
in the Instruction Packet that can currently be downloaded from this web
site is listed below:
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