Does anyone have firsthand knowledge (by speaking to NVC personnel) if NVC is done setting visa interview dates for March 2008?

My case is complete as of 2/12/08, but hasn't been forwarded to Mumbai consulate as of today. I am evaluating my chances for a March interview. What are the chances for April interview? Is it possible that interview can be as late as May, if Mumbai consulate/NVC has many cases for Mumbai?

Thanks in advance to all VJ'ers who respond.

Sanjiv Patel

P.S. - Please remove my quotes when responding, to keep this thread succinct.

well depends what is your visa type. if your k-1 there might be chance for march but definately april

if your cr/ir visa type your guess is good as mine who knows

you should be able to look at the embassy schedule...the Chennai embassy has scheduled all of marches interviews.

My husband just has called to NVC, they told him interviews are scheduled on second week of the month for the next month. How many interviews are scheduled depends of embassy capasity.

My case was completed on 18th Jan and I am not included in the March interview list of Chennai. I am so tired of waiting for an interview date.... NVC has told me to call back around March 15th to check the April list.

VJ member Vladimir (from Ukraine )had his interview in March but was able to reschedule for February by contacting with embassy(Kiev). Maybe it is worth to try after NVC forward documents to designated embassies.

I have two question, I am just trying to get prepared ahead of time….

1. how do you know the interview schedule and when the NVC finish the schedule for certain month
2. what are supporting documents that one sends with DS-230 to NVC? Is it the passport pictures and copy of beneficiaries biographic page of passport to be enclosed with it or there is more needed: like police certificate, marriage certificate, etc….?

Thanks

AD. 1
I think people call to DOS for interview date -
Dept. of State in the US at 202-663-1225, press 1, then 0, then 0. Hours are 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. They can tell you the current status of your case and if you have been scheduled an interview date. You will need your embassy case number when calling.
AD.2 DS230 supporting documents
two 2x2photos, marriage,divorce papers, police clerance,birth certificate,military record,passport copy ect.

There are two kinds of posts - or processing - Standard and Appointment.

First you need to determine what type of post your consulate/embassy is.

To find out, click on the link below and then choose your embassy from the drop down list. The information on what you need to send in with your DS- 230 is on the next page, it will also say at the top of that page Standard or Appointment.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3176.html

NVC schedules the interviews for Appointment posts, not DOS. Interviews are generally scheduled the 2nd week of the month, however some are not finished until the 3rd week. You can call NVC at 603 334 0700, then press 1 then 5 to speak with an operator.

UPDATE:I did call NVC yesterday and was told that the case status changed to complete while they were already doing appointments. She said they do apporintment scheduling in 2nd week of each month for following month (same response as calamitka's post). On pressing hard, I was told that the scheduling started Feb 11 and completed on 15th. This may or may not be true if there is spillover in 3rd week, as one pointed out earlier in this thread. NVC, as usual, will not commit if this case has a chance for April interview, but in my heart I feel that April is most likely scenario. However, as ze22 pointed out, a case completed on Jan 19 is still not included for March! So, one never knows, if this can get into May interview.

vbtbmrt - My case is neither Kx, nor Cx, but in Family First preference.

Indianheart, ze22: Chennai - like Mumbai - is an Appointment Post, for which NVC now schedules the interview date. This change happened recently - Jan 2008. Mumbai consulate had many cases in their hand from previous embassy process which they had to schedule in Feb and March. However, for March, at least for Mumbai, the consulate has scheduled around 700 interviews, where in last year in March they had processed around 1700 interviews, telling me that they have the capacity to do much more. NVC will then fill in the remaining capacity. So, even if Chennai has posted their March interview schedule on their web site, NVC will add more interview slots to March schedule. Best way to find out is to call NVC and speak with a liver person. Unfortunately, NVC is not as proactive as USCIS or even consulates abroad to post the status of the case or to post visa interview schedules. Would it be too much to ask to post NVC scheduled interview dates to their website?

Ales: You can call NVC (in addition to DoS, as suggested by calamitka for Standard Post consulates) or check your consulate website to see if they publish interview dates. At least Mumbai and Chennai seem to be doing so, but that was when consulates were scheduling interview dates, and not NVC. If NVC does not start posting this information on their website, the Appointment Post Consulates will not have anything else to publish, unless they decide to take NVC schedule and publish it in future. The link posted by trailmix (http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3176.html) will give you all information you need to know what needs to be sent to NVC and what if anything needs to be sent to Consulate - depending on whether your consulate is Standard or Appointment post. If I understand this correctly, for a Standard Post consulate, the DoS or consulate does the scheduling and publishes it on their website (at least for Mumbai and Chennai). For Appointment Post consulate, NVC collects everything (except medical exams) and schedules the interviews. However, NVC does not publish the interview schedules on their web site, and hence, you have to call NVC to find out if you are scheduled for interview.

Calamitka: Thanks for posting Vladimir's experience of getting embassy to schedule the appointment earlier than originally scheduled. If I understand his posts correctly, he did not have any earth-shattering reasons, which is normally set as a reason to do so by NVC/consulates: such as a child aging out or a serious medical condition of a family member, etc. I am glad for Vladimir that it happened for him. We can only try to find out if it works. I ask fellow VJ'ers to post their experience (positive or negative) if they try this in a separate thread so we can take comfort in knowing this trick works or was Vladimir's case was an exception rather than rule.

Not going to happen anytime soon; Dept. of State's massive contracting to operate NVC would have to be amended or renegotiated to get that to happen! (and for what value?)

Your estimates of interview slots may not be accurate, especially if the post just became Apointment NVC Processing. NVC's appointment slots get added to the consulate's interview schedule about 1-2 weeks after the cases leave NVC.

well thats not true that nvc will tell you if you have a date or not. i have been calling all last week and 2 days this week till i was told not to call. i will recieve mail when i have a date very rude and inconsiderate so i called dos and got the same message called congressman and still havent heard back from him either or they just havent made my appointment yet who knows they wont tell you much on that issue

Call again anyway