Still waiting for NVC to receive our application.

[meesu 4]

Hello! I'm a bit confused about what the current situation of our K-1 Visa is. On USCIS Case Status page, we were told our form was approved on 4th of November, 2025. We also received our confirmation via physical mail, and on the letter, it states "We have sent the original visa petition to the Department of State National Visa Center (NVC.)" The physical letter also states our approval is valid from 3rd of November, 2025 to 3rd of February, 2026.

 

On December 9th, we sent an inquiry to NVC to check if they got our case. They responded and said they did not receive it, and that it could take up to 6 weeks. On the USCIS Case Status page, it still says "Case Was Approved." No status change on the page. Are they still holding our application in USCIS? It's been almost 60 days, and I'm afraid of our case getting lost. Is anyone else experiencing this long of a delay? To be clear; I'm not worried about NVC processing our case, I'm worried about the application leaving the USCIS at all.

 

Please let me know! Thank you!

[JeanneAdil 7,429]

keep checking with inquiry to NVC for your New (embassy/country) ID  ANK for Ankara for the Turkey embassy

NVC does not process the K1 visa / it only assigns the case # 

you will then fill out the ds 160 and follow the ankara rules for paying the fee,  collecting needed documents and scheduling the interview

BTW when i look up Turkey US K1 visa ,  it says fill out ds 260 and that is not correct / it will be ds 160

260 is for spouse visa

 

It appears USCIS has not (this is only my guess) the case as you said the USCIS site still shows it / you should not be able to see a status on that site when the case has left the USCIS office (as they no longer have access to your packet and the info)

[rbv_shard 62]

Yeah.... the NOA2 is a form letter and does not accurately reflect the status of your case.

 

Ours took two months (Dec 3rd) after the NOA2 date (Oct 2nd) for the online status to change from "Approved" to "Sent to Department of State", then another couple weeks until NVC was able to give us the case number, and that shows "At NVC" and may be weeks more before they approve it and send onward to the embassy.

 

There's no point in checking with NVC until at least a week after your USCIS status changes to "Sent to Department of State" -- online, not in the NOA2.

 

On the processing times page you can see that it is taking an average of 70 days between NOA2 and reaching NVC.

And yes, this means the validity of the USCIS approval will expire.  (Why we got four months and you got only three, no idea.  Or perhaps yours is March 2nd not Feb 3rd.)  This primarily means we'll all need to provide updated evidence for "intent to marry" and "proof of relationship" (at the interview), the original ones are considered too old.

Edited January 3 by rbv_shard

[meesu 4]

On 1/2/2026 at 5:38 PM, JeanneAdil said:

you will then fill out the ds 160 and follow the ankara rules for paying the fee,  collecting needed documents and scheduling the interview

BTW when i look up Turkey US K1 visa ,  it says fill out ds 260 and that is not correct / it will be ds 160

260 is for spouse visa

 

Thank you! I was actually worried about the DS-160 form part, I was wondering if that was a mistake on the page.

 

10 hours ago, rbv_shard said:

Yeah.... the NOA2 is a form letter and does not accurately reflect the status of your case.

 

Ours took two months (Dec 3rd) after the NOA2 date (Oct 2nd) for the online status to change from "Approved" to "Sent to Department of State", then another couple weeks until NVC was able to give us the case number, and that shows "At NVC" and may be weeks more before they approve it and send onward to the embassy.

 

There's no point in checking with NVC until at least a week after your USCIS status changes to "Sent to Department of State" -- online, not in the NOA2.

 

On the processing times page you can see that it is taking an average of 70 days between NOA2 and reaching NVC.

And yes, this means the validity of the USCIS approval will expire.  (Why we got four months and you got only three, no idea.  Or perhaps yours is March 2nd not Feb 3rd.)  This primarily means we'll all need to provide updated evidence for "intent to marry" and "proof of relationship" (at the interview), the original ones are considered too old.

 

Thank you so much, this has cleared up stuff for me. I was wondering if the page was simply not updated, but now I'll keep a closer look on it. I've also checked the dates, and it was March 2nd indeed! (Still getting used to reading the dates Americanized...) 

 

I'm hoping we'll get our status changed to "Sent to Department of State" this Monday, since it'll be over 60 days, then. We'll see from there; thank you so much for taking the time to respond!

[hamorflic247 8]

yup ours took two months to get sent and still waiting for them to get it (aka find it in their warehouse) approved oct 16th sent dec 16th. mindblowing this is normal and accepted. if anyone else did this they would be fired. 

[Brooke and Bruno 10]

Hey, let me know when your status change to "sent to department of state" please! I'm also waiting for an update, my noa2 is Nov 5th.

[meesu 4]

On 1/7/2026 at 10:34 PM, Brooke and Bruno said:

Hey, let me know when your status change to "sent to department of state" please! I'm also waiting for an update, my noa2 is Nov 5th.

 

Hey! Our status just changed to "Sent to Department of State." We're now on the lookout for NVC to receive it. I hope your visa moves smoothly, too!

[TBoneTX 48,960]

2 minutes ago, meesu said:

Our status just changed to "Sent to Department of State."

Great!

[Brooke and Bruno 10]

2 hours ago, meesu said:

 

Hey! Our status just changed to "Sent to Department of State." We're now on the lookout for NVC to receive it. I hope your visa moves smoothly, too!

Yayy congratulations!!

Thanks for letting me know!

[Turquoise 11]

On 1/2/2026 at 4:38 PM, JeanneAdil said:

keep checking with inquiry to NVC for your New (embassy/country) ID  ANK for Ankara for the Turkey embassy

NVC does not process the K1 visa / it only assigns the case # 

you will then fill out the ds 160 and follow the ankara rules for paying the fee,  collecting needed documents and scheduling the interview

BTW when i look up Turkey US K1 visa ,  it says fill out ds 260 and that is not correct / it will be ds 160

260 is for spouse visa

 

It appears USCIS has not (this is only my guess) the case as you said the USCIS site still shows it / you should not be able to see a status on that site when the case has left the USCIS office (as they no longer have access to your packet and the info)

How often you can do the inquiry?

[JeanneAdil 7,429]

16 hours ago, Turquoise said:

How often you can do the inquiry?

if this is me - i would inquiry everyday till i had an answer 

there's probably a rule about this but at this point i doubt even immigration officers know the rules as they change weekly

[Hearts4MyLover 1]

We got our NOA2 October 15 and are still waiting for a case number. We been sending inquiries weekly ever since our case went from "approved" to "Sent to DOS" only earlier this week they finally said they got our case at the NVC. 

There is no point in sending Inquiries until the status actually changes to "sent to DOS"

Hope y'all get a case number very soon! I wonder if we are maybe just unlucky since I have seen people with later NOA2 dates get their case number already

[silentbear 2]

4 hours ago, Hearts4MyLover said:

We got our NOA2 October 15 and are still waiting for a case number. We been sending inquiries weekly ever since our case went from "approved" to "Sent to DOS" only earlier this week they finally said they got our case at the NVC. 

There is no point in sending Inquiries until the status actually changes to "sent to DOS"

Hope y'all get a case number very soon! I wonder if we are maybe just unlucky since I have seen people with later NOA2 dates get their case number already

Same boat here. NOA2 approval Oct 15, Sent to DOS Dec 17. Crickets ever since.
Two inquiries to the NVC, next week I'll be sending a third.

Definitely the holiday slow down effecting those sent before the Christmas holiday in the US, unfortunately.

[Hearts4MyLover 1]

23 hours ago, silentbear said:

Same boat here. NOA2 approval Oct 15, Sent to DOS Dec 17. Crickets ever since.
Two inquiries to the NVC, next week I'll be sending a third.

Definitely the holiday slow down effecting those sent before the Christmas holiday in the US, unfortunately.

UPDATE: We actually got our case number through an inquiry today, so make sure to keep sending them. Since our days are so close to each other you must be getting yours soon. I am praying for you and your fiance(e) to have a smooth process from here on!