Petition Process Time Limit at NVC

[alt_japan 1]

Hello all! I hope this finds you well.

 

My petition has been approved by the USCIS and sent to the NVC for processing.  I am still waiting to get a case number to move forward.

 

I currently live in Japan have to stay here for another year because of my contract; so I am not in a rush at this time to have the petition processed for my wife.  

 

My question relates to how long can a petition stay at the NVC before it gets deleted or rejected because I took no action? Meaning I take no action like fill out the online forms, pay fees, or gather the AOS items.  I thought I read a year somewhere but I can not remember where I saw it.  

 

EDIT: I am looking for like an official statement from the NVC website for example or memo. 

 

Thanks for all your help. 

Edited June 28, 2018 by alt_phil

[geowrian 22,337]

An approved I-130 never expires. However, after about a year they will send the petition to the NRC, and then you would need an I-824 to have them retrieve it before you could go through NVC.

 

As long as you take any action on it, it should remain active, though. Keep in mind the couple months of NVC processing, embassy processing / getting an interview date, and then the visa itself is valid for up to 6 months (limited by the validity period of the medical exam). So you can easily wait like 6 months, start NVC processing, then have plenty of time to do embassy processing and enter on the actual visa.

[alt_japan 1]

Thank you very much for the reply and the insight! It makes this process a little more clear. Thank you again! 

[nativeson 47]

What we did was finish the NVC process, then when the interview was scheduled we contacted the embassy and let them know we wanted to delay. Basically you can keep your process open as long as you contact them once a year. (I think you can potentially do this forever.) Here's what I got from the embassy:

 

"As you are aware, approval of I-130 immigrant petition remains valid indefinitely as long as relationship between petitioner and beneficiary remains unchanged. 

However, under section 203(g) of INA, Consular Section is required to take action for termination of registration after one year of notice of visa availability. In order to avoid the termination processing, we have updated “last contact date” on your wife’s record. 
This action extends case validity for one year from XXXX."

 

XXXX was the date I contacted them.

 

[alt_japan 1]

Thank you for the information that is really helpful.