My Petition Skipped NVC???

[AH_Fury 61]

I got my approval letter in the mail today and it states: "The above petition has been approved, and forwarded to the listed consulate." There is no consulate listed ANYWHERE on this form, so I called USCIS and asked about this. They told me it's going to get sent straight to the consulate that I listed (I listed Malaysia, but put his current address as Yemen, so uh... which one?). I asked the agent if it's going to go to the NVC and he said I-129 petitions don't.

I'm really confused now. Who are we supposed to contact? Is our petition floating in thin air?

[Amhara 460]

I really thought that k-1 petitions go to the NVC..."

• After USCIS approves the petition, it is sent to the National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC will give you a case number and send your petition to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate where your fiancé(e) lives. (http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/types/family/fiance-k-1.html)

It sounds like you need to call NVC for non-immigrant visas at (603) 334-0888.

If you requested the petition to go to Malaysia, it will probably be forwarded there without further instruction. Hopefully it gets where it needs to quickly!

[Ryan H 3,790]

I got my approval letter in the mail today and it states: "The above petition has been approved, and forwarded to the listed consulate." There is no consulate listed ANYWHERE on this form, so I called USCIS and asked about this. They told me it's going to get sent straight to the consulate that I listed (I listed Malaysia, but put his current address as Yemen, so uh... which one?). I asked the agent if it's going to go to the NVC and he said I-129 petitions don't.

I'm really confused now. Who are we supposed to contact? Is our petition floating in thin air?

The USCIS phone line is called the misinformation line for a reason and this is another example. Despite what you were told on the phone, no petition ever goes straight to an Embassy or Consulate from USCIS, ever. For fiancé visa cases, the NVC is not much more than a mail stop, they will assign a case number to the file and ship it to the appropriate post abroad based on the beneficiary's address on the form. If you wrote a Yemeni address on the form, then the file will be sent to Cairo Egypt because all operations at the Embassy in Sana'a have been suspended indefinitely.

[HollyDaniela 6]

You can call nvc and they'll give you instructions how to request to send to another embassy if it wasn't already sent. But if it was already then they'll also tell you where it was sent to.

[AH_Fury 61]

I called NVC and they told me to call the immigrant visa line (not non-immigrant). Basically, they said all cases go to NVC before they get to the embassy, and told me to call in maybe a week or two and I'll get the information I'm looking for.

Thanks, guys!

[Amhara 460]

That's good to know that NVC treats the fiancée petitions a immigrant visa, just in case. Thanks!

[MSF 3]

I got my approval letter in the mail today and it states: "The above petition has been approved, and forwarded to the listed consulate." There is no consulate listed ANYWHERE on this form, so I called USCIS and asked about this. They told me it's going to get sent straight to the consulate that I listed (I listed Malaysia, but put his current address as Yemen, so uh... which one?). I asked the agent if it's going to go to the NVC and he said I-129 petitions don't.

I'm really confused now. Who are we supposed to contact? Is our petition floating in thin air?

All approved I-129f petitions will go to NVC for processing.

Only NVC identifies consulate that will process the case in beneficiary country, creates appropriate case number for that consulate, and mails the documents.

I-129f petitions CAN NOT bypass Department of State National Visa Center processing.

USCIS in some cases may produce two notifications after approval of I-129f.

1. First notice will state - your petition was approved and forwarded to consulate.
2. Second notice, some time later, will state - that petition was sent to NVC.

Initial letter is to inform you that petition has been approved, and what will happen next. From USCIS perspective, process of sending your petition to consulate is to mail it to NVC, however, they have not done so, at the moment of approval. For this reason, initial NOA2 may indicate, that petition was approved and will now be forwarded to consulate.

Once USCIS actually mails your petition to NVC, they will issue second notice that will state - your case was actually mailed to NVC.

Once your I-129f petition is approved, continue to check online status page to see when it is sent to NVC. It usually happens within 10 days.

As an example here is how both notices will look online:

NOA2 or approval notice

On Date X, 2015, we approved your Form I-129F, Petition for Fiance(E), Receipt Number SRCXXXXXXXX

NOA2 to NVC - case sent to NVC

On Date X, 2015, we sent your case, Receipt Number SRCXXXXXXXX, to the Department of State for visa processing.

Different processing centers may have slightly different processes in general or during some periods of time, I assume this is why some people receive two notices and some receive only one.

Keep an eye on your petition status at USCIS website and you should see when it changes from just approved to mailed to DOS NVC. You can start calling NVC in 5 days for status, it takes one week to reach them, its mail it need to travel, so do not go crazy. NVC has flexible system they will be able to tell you they received your petition, even if it has not began processing yet.

This should help.

Edited April 7, 2015 by MSF