When USCIS approves a Form I-130 for a relative who lives outside the United States, the case does not go to the embassy. It goes first to the National Visa Center (NVC), the State Department office that collects fees, forms, and documents for every immigrant visa case before an interview can be scheduled. The NVC sends a welcome letter with a case number and invoice ID; the petitioner or applicant logs in to the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC), pays two fees, submits the online immigrant visa application (Form DS-260), uploads the sponsor’s Affidavit of Support with financial evidence, and uploads the applicant’s civil documents. When the NVC has reviewed everything and found it complete, the case is documentarily complete, and it waits for an interview slot at the consulate, immediately for immediate relatives and only once the priority date is current for preference categories. This guide walks through each step, the documents that cause the most rejections, and what happens after the visa is issued.
Key takeaways
The NVC stage starts with a welcome letter and ends when the case is documentarily complete. Two fees are paid online before anything else can be submitted. The DS-260 is the visa application itself; mistakes on it follow the applicant into the interview. The Affidavit of Support (Form I-864) is reviewed here, and a joint sponsor is added here if the petitioner’s income is short. Preference cases sit at the NVC until the Visa Bulletin makes the priority date current. After the visa is issued, the USCIS Immigrant Fee of $235 must be paid before the green card is produced.
From USCIS approval to the NVC welcome letter
USCIS sends the approved petition to the NVC, which creates a case and issues a case number (a three-letter consulate code followed by numbers) and an invoice ID. Both are in the welcome letter, which goes to the petitioner, the applicant, and the attorney of record. Nothing can be paid or filed until that letter arrives. If more than a few weeks pass after the USCIS approval notice with no welcome letter, the NVC’s public inquiry form and the USCIS case status page are the two places to check; a wrong mailing address on the petition is the usual cause.
For a preference case (a sibling, an adult child, or the spouse or child of a permanent resident), the NVC may hold the petition without sending the full invoice until the priority date approaches. Our guide to priority dates and the Visa Bulletin explains how that wait works. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents) have no priority-date wait and move straight to fee payment.
The two NVC fees
The NVC collects an immigrant visa application processing fee for each applicant and an affidavit of support fee for each case, both paid online through CEAC from a U.S. bank account. The current amounts are on the State Department’s visa fees page; they are set by regulation and change from time to time, which is why this guide does not repeat them. The affidavit of support fee unlocks the Form I-864 upload; the visa fee unlocks the DS-260. Pay both, then wait for the payment status to show "Paid" before trying to open the forms. Derivative family members (a spouse and children who immigrate with the principal applicant in a preference case) each pay their own visa fee.
Form DS-260: the application itself
The DS-260 is the immigrant visa application, completed online by each applicant. It asks for every address since age 16, every job, every trip to the United States, every prior visa application, family details, and the security and background questions. Two habits prevent most problems: answer from documents, not memory, and keep a printed copy of the confirmation page for the interview. The consular officer reads the DS-260 before the applicant sits down, and an answer that conflicts with the civil documents or the petition is the first thing an officer asks about.
The DS-260 is signed under penalty of perjury
A prior overstay, an old arrest, or a previous visa denial that is left off the form is far more damaging than the event itself. Disclose it and prepare an explanation; the record is almost always available to the officer.
The Affidavit of Support and financial evidence
The petitioner must sign Form I-864, a contract with the U.S. government promising to support the immigrant at 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines (100 percent for petitioners on active military duty sponsoring a spouse or child). The current income thresholds by household size are in Form I-864P. The NVC wants:
- The most recent federal tax return or IRS tax transcript, with W-2s or 1099s.
- Proof of current income: recent pay stubs or an employer letter.
- Proof of the petitioner’s status: a U.S. passport, naturalization certificate, or green card.
- For self-employed sponsors, the full return with schedules; for sponsors using assets, evidence of value and ownership.
If the petitioner’s income is below the threshold, a joint sponsor, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who independently meets the requirement, signs a separate I-864. A household member’s income can be added with Form I-864A. The NVC reviews the affidavit for completeness, not sufficiency; the consular officer makes the final call at the interview, and an officer who doubts the sponsor’s income can refuse the visa under the public-charge ground. Sorting the sponsor question out at the NVC stage, rather than at the interview, is the single biggest time saver in a consular case.
Have an NVC welcome letter and not sure what to upload?
Request a free consultation. We review the petition, the sponsor’s income, and the applicant’s history, and quote a flat fee for the NVC stage and the interview in writing.
Civil documents: what the NVC checks
Each applicant uploads scanned civil documents to CEAC. The State Department’s country-specific reciprocity pages say which document is available in each country and what it must look like. The usual list:
| Document | Who needs it | Common rejection reason |
|---|---|---|
| Birth certificate | Every applicant | A hospital record or an extract instead of the full civil registration |
| Marriage certificate | Married applicants | A religious certificate where the country issues a civil one |
| Divorce or death certificates | Anyone previously married, and the petitioner | Missing a prior marriage that the DS-260 disclosed |
| Police certificates | Applicants 16 and older, from the countries where they have lived for the required periods | Expired certificate, or a missing country of past residence |
| Court and prison records | Anyone ever arrested or convicted | A summary instead of the certified disposition |
| Military records | Anyone who served | Omitted because the service was compulsory |
| Passport biographic page | Every applicant | Passport valid for less than six months beyond the planned entry |
| Translations | Any document not in English | No translator’s certification |
The NVC reviews uploads in the order received and publishes how long that review is currently taking on its website. A rejected document restarts the clock for that item, so a complete, correct upload the first time matters more than uploading quickly.
Documentarily complete, then the wait for an interview
When fees are paid, the DS-260 is submitted, and every document is accepted, the NVC marks the case documentarily complete. Two different waits can follow. For an immediate relative, the case joins the interview queue at the consulate, which depends on that post’s capacity. For a preference case, the case waits until the applicant’s priority date is current under the Visa Bulletin’s final action chart; only then is it scheduled. The NVC sends the interview appointment letter about a month before the date, and the applicant completes the medical examination with an embassy-approved panel physician before the interview.
The consular interview and after
The interview is short. The officer confirms identity, reviews the originals of the uploaded documents, asks about the relationship and the sponsor, and either approves the visa, asks for more evidence, or refuses it. A refusal under section 221(g) for missing documents or "administrative processing" is common and usually resolved by supplying what was asked. The USCIS consular processing page describes the end of the road: the visa is placed in the passport, the applicant pays the USCIS Immigrant Fee of $235 (ideally before traveling), enters the United States before the visa expires, becomes a permanent resident on admission, and receives the green card by mail. USCIS asks applicants to wait 90 days after entry before inquiring about a card that has not arrived.
How long the NVC stage takes
The honest answer has three parts. The NVC’s own document review has a published turnaround that changes month to month. The interview wait depends on the consulate. And for preference cases, the Visa Bulletin controls everything. We track the first two for our clients and publish the ranges we see on our processing times page. Our guide to how long the I-130 takes covers the USCIS half of the timeline, and adjustment of status versus consular processing explains when a family can avoid the NVC altogether because the relative is already in the United States.
Can the NVC stage be expedited?
Rarely, and only by the consulate. The NVC forwards expedite requests to the post, which grants them for documented emergencies such as a life-threatening medical condition or an urgent humanitarian situation, not for job offers or school start dates. A well-prepared case cannot be sped up at the NVC, but it can avoid every self-inflicted delay, which in practice is where most of the lost months go.
How Atlas Immigration Law helps
We run the NVC stage as a checklist with dates: fees paid the week the welcome letter arrives, the DS-260 prepared from the applicant’s documents and reviewed before submission, the Affidavit of Support and any joint sponsor resolved before the first upload, and every civil document checked against the reciprocity page for that country. Attorney Jordan Weinberg reviews the full file before it goes to the NVC and prepares the applicant for the interview. The case runs on a flat fee agreed in writing with milestone billing, a dedicated paralegal reachable by call, email, or text, and the Atlas Vision client portal, where the petitioner in the United States and the applicant abroad upload documents and watch the same status. See our family immigration services, our spouse visa page, or the guide to consular processing representation, or request a free consultation. We work with families in all 50 states, in English and Spanish.
Frequently asked questions
What does the NVC do after the I-130 is approved?
It creates a case, sends the welcome letter with the case number and invoice ID, collects the two fees, receives the DS-260, the Affidavit of Support, and the civil documents, reviews them, and schedules the consular interview once the case is documentarily complete and a visa number is available.
What is Form DS-260?
The online immigrant visa application, completed in CEAC by each applicant after the visa fee is paid. It is signed electronically under penalty of perjury and reviewed by the consular officer before the interview.
What does documentarily complete mean?
The NVC has received and accepted the fees, the DS-260, the Affidavit of Support with evidence, and all required civil documents. The case is then ready to be scheduled for an interview when a visa is available.
What if the petitioner does not earn enough for the Affidavit of Support?
A joint sponsor who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and meets the income requirement signs a separate Form I-864. A household member can also combine income using Form I-864A. Assets can sometimes make up the difference.
Does a preference-category case wait at the NVC?
Yes. The NVC can complete its document review, but the interview is only scheduled when the applicant’s priority date is current in the Visa Bulletin. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens have no such wait.
When is the USCIS Immigrant Fee paid?
After the visa is issued and before the green card can be produced. The fee is $235 per immigrant under the current USCIS fee schedule, and USCIS recommends paying it before traveling to the United States.
How long after entering the United States does the green card arrive?
USCIS mails the card to the U.S. address given at the interview or to the border officer. It asks applicants to wait 90 days after entry, or after paying the immigrant fee, before inquiring about a card that has not arrived.
This guide is part of our family immigration services — the service page covers eligibility, fees, and how we handle these cases.
Founder & Managing Attorney, Atlas Immigration Law
Member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the Dallas Bar Association. Licensed to practice in Texas; fluent in English and Spanish.
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This guide is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Immigration law and procedures change, and how they apply depends on your specific facts — consult a licensed immigration attorney about your situation.