Paying IV Fees by Mail - Is This Really My Only Option Right Now?

[judesky1 6]

Have anyone had any luck with assessing ds260 cos I've been stuck here for weeks.made payment via mail but nothing yet.and how true is this manual ds260, i havnt seen or heard of that.pls anyone should shed some light if they just finished with ds260. I have been checking to see if it will come up online so i can pay tru online not minding the payment i madr via mail.will ask for refund after then just want to get tru ds260 and have case complete

[Morganalmonshid94 84]

Have anyone had any luck with assessing ds260 cos I've been stuck here for weeks.made payment via mail but nothing yet.and how true is this manual ds260, i havnt seen or heard of that.pls anyone should shed some light if they just finished with ds260. I have been checking to see if it will come up online so i can pay tru online not minding the payment i madr via mail.will ask for refund after then just want to get tru ds260 and have case complete

there is no manual ds260 only option is the online form. Until your able to pay online again or by some miracle it switches to paid from your mailed payment your stuck .

[judesky1 6]

@ morganalmonshid94...I guess all we have to do is just wait and hope for the best. Thanks!

[Morganalmonshid94 84]

hey morgan, can you share what they told you about how to do the refund?

I'm really intrigued in paying it again via online as it is available right now. But really not sure if they can refund as officially it is non-refundable.

i paid by mail on May 21st

NVC received the payment May 29th

NVC cashed the check June 1st

thinking of going with your route, but it's a pain to have to pay the $325 twice!

I already know someone that took the risk way before me and got a refund, and a supervisor confirmed with me it's possible . Send an email to asknvc@state.gove, case number in subject, applicants info in the body with why you need a refund simple as that .

Here is the question I have.

Has anyone paid the IV fee by mail ?

How long until it shows IV Fee as PAID at the CEAC website?

How long did you wait until the DS-260 was available?

From what I am reading, mailing in the IV payment is a waste of time and money, they will cash the check and then nothing on the website is ever updated.

yes, never did even after 2 months, never . Your statement is correct waste of time lol .

[tasakchy 9]

For those that were able to pay online, how long after the IV was invoiced did the website allow you to pay?

I'm trying to figure out how long I should wait.

[Bogota Rocks 8]

So I called the 603-334-0888 number today, and I got a nice agent to talk to. I asked him about the CEAC website problems, and he said there is no timeline of when they will be fixed right now. So I asked him what my best options were. He said that If someone pays by mail, and the NVC agents can see that it is paid on their end, they can open a ticket for the tech support team to look at the specific case's DS-260 being opened, individually and manually if necessary, to keep the process moving along.

Then again, it can take up to 21 days upon receipt of the mailed IV fee to get put into the system as paid, and then you have to hope that a nice agent will open a support ticket for you, and then that they fix your case and enable the DS-260 in a timely fashion. I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Has anyone here paid by mail, called in to get a support ticket opened about their case, and gotten the DS-260 to show up that way? How long did it take? It sounds like an urban legend to me at this point. It's been two weeks since I received the IV fee invoice, and it is still not enabled in the system, but I think I am going to wait until they have these problems fully sorted out and the website is fixed. If everyone is having the same problem, they have to accommodate us all somehow since the problem was on their end this whole time. At least I hope so?

[Jennymc11 2]

So I called the 603-334-0888 number today, and I got a nice agent to talk to. I asked him about the CEAC website problems, and he said there is no timeline of when they will be fixed right now. So I asked him what my best options were. He said that If someone pays by mail, and the NVC agents can see that it is paid on their end, they can open a ticket for the tech support team to look at the specific case's DS-260 being opened, individually and manually if necessary, to keep the process moving along.

Then again, it can take up to 21 days upon receipt of the mailed IV fee to get put into the system as paid, and then you have to hope that a nice agent will open a support ticket for you, and then that they fix your case and enable the DS-260 in a timely fashion. I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Has anyone here paid by mail, called in to get a support ticket opened about their case, and gotten the DS-260 to show up that way? How long did it take? It sounds like an urban legend to me at this point. It's been two weeks since I received the IV fee invoice, and it is still not enabled in the system, but I think I am going to wait until they have these problems fully sorted out and the website is fixed. If everyone is having the same problem, they have to accommodate us all somehow since the problem was on their end this whole time. At least I hope so?

We paid the IV fees via mail. It was delivered to St Louis over a month ago. NVC confirms that they've received payment and we received the email receipts, but we still can't access the DS-260. We've called the 603-334-0888 number twice, and we've been told twice that our case was added to a spreadsheet and forwarded to IT to manually fix the system so we do the DS-260. So far, nothing has happened. We are contemplating paying the IV fees again online and requesting a refund. This is a complete joke and incredibly frustrating.

[juanchopancho 5]

Great so just wasted $325...

This is disgusting.

Website is broken, their workaround doesn't work so we're all basically screwed.

Has anyone got a refund after paying the IV Fee 2x becuase of this fiasco?

[Morganalmonshid94 84]

So I called the 603-334-0888 number today, and I got a nice agent to talk to. I asked him about the CEAC website problems, and he said there is no timeline of when they will be fixed right now. So I asked him what my best options were. He said that If someone pays by mail, and the NVC agents can see that it is paid on their end, they can open a ticket for the tech support team to look at the specific case's DS-260 being opened, individually and manually if necessary, to keep the process moving along.

Then again, it can take up to 21 days upon receipt of the mailed IV fee to get put into the system as paid, and then you have to hope that a nice agent will open a support ticket for you, and then that they fix your case and enable the DS-260 in a timely fashion. I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Has anyone here paid by mail, called in to get a support ticket opened about their case, and gotten the DS-260 to show up that way? How long did it take? It sounds like an urban legend to me at this point. It's been two weeks since I received the IV fee invoice, and it is still not enabled in the system, but I think I am going to wait until they have these problems fully sorted out and the website is fixed. If everyone is having the same problem, they have to accommodate us all somehow since the problem was on their end this whole time. At least I hope so?

I did this the first week of the month and as already noted up until Friday the IT guys hadn't done anything with my case so it was with them for at least two weeks and nothing happened till I took matters into my own hands . I don't think it's a solution for them to give it to them as a bunch of us in the nvc thread tried this a couple weeks ago already lol . Edited June 25, 2015 by Morganalmonshid94

[Bogota Rocks 8]

The lack of transparency throughout this total breakdown of the NVC's website has been demoralizing. At least the people who had trouble receiving their printed visas these past few weeks have gotten daily updates on the system fixes and worldwide media coverage of the problem. Everyone here looking to fill in their DS-260 or pay their immigrant visa fee on the other hand has been kept in the dark for weeks if not months. When is anybody from the NVC going to level with us about what's going on? Why is there no coverage of this? If it weren't for the fellow commenters here helping to crowdsource info together I'd be going even crazier with doubt and worry.

[bappi48 4]

For those that were able to pay online, how long after the IV was invoiced did the website allow you to pay?

I'm trying to figure out how long I should wait.

So far it seems 3-4 weeks on average.

[timpoong27 5]

Technological Systems Issue

JUNE 24, 2015

Visa Systems Issues

• The Bureau of Consular Affairs reports that 50 posts, representing nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of our nonimmigrant visa demand worldwide, are now online and issuing visas.

• Posts overseas issued more than 60,000 visas on June 23. Mission China alone issued nearly 25,000 visas.

• Posts overseas have issued more than 150,000 non-immigrant visas since June 9. For context, if systems had been operating normally, posts would have issued approximately 450,000 visas during the June 9-23 timeframe. We expect to close this gap rapidly over the next few days.

• We will continue to bring additional posts online until connectivity with all posts is restored. All posts worldwide are now scheduling interviews with applicants, including those who applied after the systems problems began on June 9.

• We deeply regret the inconvenience to travelers who are waiting for visas.

• We continue to post updates to our website, travel.state.gov.

Q: Reports indicate that your backlog is 700,000 visas. Is this accurate?

• No. While there is a large backlog of cases to clear, it never approached that level, and we have already made good progress issuing those visas. Many posts are working overtime this week, and we expect to eliminate the backlog in a week or less.

Q: How old is this equipment? And does the age of the equipment and the need to have so many repairs to the hardware mean that this equipment should have been replaced? Is this a funding issue at the base of it?

• The hardware that impacted the biometrics system is several years old. The Department was working to move the biometrics system off of this hardware.

• The operational requirements to keep this database running for domestic and overseas passport and visa issuances caused delays in upgrading the database according to our planned maintenance schedule.

• We have been working to upgrade our systems over the past year.

• We will move ahead with planned migration and systems upgrades as soon as we fully restore service.

Q: How did you restore service?

• We restored service using a redundant, secondary backup system and other sources. That data allowed us to begin to re-connect posts to the affected portion of the system and synchronize biometric data. This system is running on newer hardware, and has a synchronized standby system in a different Department data center.

• In parallel, we are continuing to restore data from backups and overseas post databases. This process is ongoing.

Q: Do you know whether this is equipment that was acquired directly by the State Department, or was this acquired through a third-party contractor?

• The equipment was acquired by the Department of State.

Q: What does this mean for travelers seeking visas?

• All posts are now interviewing applicants. Please check the website of the nearest embassy or consulate for interview appointment availability and up-to-date messages.

Q: How many people were affected by this outage?

• During the past two weeks, consular sections have continued to interview travelers who applied June 8 or earlier. Those posts reconnected to our system are now issuing visas for those applicants.

Q: How are cases being prioritized?

• Now that system functionality is being restored, case prioritization will follow our normal procedures.

• We apologize to travelers and recognize that this has caused hardship to some individuals waiting for visas.

Q: What about the foreign agricultural workers (H2A visa holders?)

• Nearly 1,700 temporary or seasonal workers have been issued new visas in Mexico. These are applicants whose biometric data was captured before the systems went down.

• An additional 250 received Port of Entry waivers from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). We are no longer asking CBP to provide port of entry waivers, as we are now able to issue visas at border posts.

• We are currently scheduling more than 1,500 H-2 visa applicants for visa interviews.

• Visa applicants, including agricultural workers, who have not received a visa should not report to the border. Please contact the nearest embassy or consulate.

Q: What about domestic passports?

• Domestic passport operations are functioning, with some processing delays.

• The technical problems have affected the intake of some mailed applications and same-day service at our passport agencies; however, we continue to issue routine and expedited passports to U.S. citizens for all overseas travel needs.

Q: What about overseas passports?

• Overseas passport applications are being processed. There have been delays in some cases, but posts overseas are able to issue emergency passports in urgent cases.

[bappi48 4]

It seems to me that,

Either NVC got screwed

OR

Intententionally NVC is delaying our cases to minimize the rush of approved files they got from USCIS.

They are using their system failure excuses to cover this up.

[Laz 1]

It seems to me that,

Either NVC got screwed

OR

Intententionally NVC is delaying our cases to minimize the rush of approved files they got from USCIS.

They are using their system failure excuses to cover this up.

That's my thoughts too. This IV Fee issue has been going on for a few months now. I can understand glitches and issues in the systems, which all companies go through, but they should have been fixed by now.

[soncrazed 1]

It seems to me that,

Either NVC got screwed

OR

Intententionally NVC is delaying our cases to minimize the rush of approved files they got from USCIS.

They are using their system failure excuses to cover this up.

Yeah, my husband basically said something similar. Since the DS-260 randomly works for people one day, it seems like a delay for them to buy some time. Frustrating to say the least!