StaGor

23 minutes ago, Sfb86 said:

I have also received the case number and the invoice number for NVC case.

Now, I am in the process of going through NVC checklist to submit items that are needed. 
Once Trump EO gets expired and embassy opens up, will there be a backlog on the interview dates? 

I can only speak based on my personal experience.

We got approved by USCIS in February, and by NVC in late July. (NVC calls it "documentarily qualified")

After that no movement at all, the file is still with NVC and not the embassy, although the embassy has re-opened since August.

I suspect that due to executive order, there will be no movement until it expires. It is only my hope that executive order does not get extended for 2021 but who knows what will happen and which categories will be under the EO.

I still believe that IR5 category for immediate relatives should have been along with IR-1/CR-1 and those other immediate relatives. But what do I know😁

Now, if my situation is the same as for all other IR5 petitioners who filed in 2019/2020, then most likely yes, there will be a backlog. But it will depend on each consulate how bad that would be. I don't think it would be more than couple months, but again, what do I know😁

16 hours ago, African Queen_B said:

My goal is to have my mother here after January 2021 

It is very unlikely this will happen before. Most likely it will happen after Jan 21 just like you are planning.

We don't know whether executive order will expire or will be extended again... It sounds like the president has broad power over immigration process.

Even if he can't change long term policy without congress, the president can definitely extend and make some 'temporary' changes.

A lot will depend on the election outcome for the president and congress.good luck!

18 minutes ago, African Queen_B said:

HELLO,

I am applying for an immigrant for my mother to come live in USA. On June 19, 2020 USCIS Approved I-130 and said that they sent my approval to NVC. On August 16 I sent an email to USCIS to check if they sent the document to NVC because i contacted NVC and they told me that they havent recieved anything. Then i sent then my I130 Receipt and they told me I need to file I-824 and click 1D on Part 2. but now i am little be confused because USCIS said that they send my information to NVC but NVC said that they dont have it. so i called USCIS A LADY said they will send it to NVC AND THAT IT TAKE 60-90 DAY.

 

I am just putting my experience here and see if someone has experience something like that. Why is the best thing to do in this situation

Hello,

Just saw your question. I did not have this, but it took for us a long time (78 days or so) between USCIS and NVC (happened during first COVID wave). Here are some of the steps. I am pretty sure I already posted it in some other topic, maybe mods will be able to merge, but here it goes:

If you still have not heard from NVC, you need to do the following:

1. Call USCIS 1 (800) 375-5283

     -ask them to look into each of parent case activity

     -be very specific with them and say that you know you are approved, and you need them to look into when the case was transmitted electronically to NVC

       (in my case it was going back and forth few times, so you may want to ask them to look into transmission activity since the date USCIS approved)

2. Call NVC  (603) 334-0700   (If step 1 confirms that your case has sent)

      -you can be on hold anywhere from 40 min to 1 hr 20 min (that was for me)

      -provide USCIS case # for each parent

      -they will only be able to see whether your USCIS was received, accepted by NVC AND NVC case was created. If it was received but something went off, agent won't be able to help you any further.

3. Submit inquiry to nvcresearch@state.gov   and to nvcinquiry@state.gov (If step 2 did not give you any info)

      -submit separate email for each parent

      -include copy of USCIS NOA2 approval letter, beneficiary name, DOB, and petitioner name

      -ask them where the case is, as per USCIS it was forwarded

      **note the reason you want to send inquiry for each case for 2 emails is because NVC call center instructs to send to nvcresearch@, whereas your NOA2 USCIS letter instructs to send to nvcinquiry@

4. Submit inquiry to USCIS for each case

      -select "case outside normal processing time"

      -explain all situation, also can mention response you got from step 3, 2 or 1

5. Submit congressional inquiry with the senator of your state, or congressional district representative.

     -This is free, you just need to find the office of your senator and/or representative. Some people on forum say representative gives better results, but in my case I actually got response from sentator's office quite fast (3 weeks or so).

6. Writ of Mandamus

     -this is the last resort of action, if you have done all steps from the above, collected responses (emails, etc)

     -the idea is that you sue federal agency (both USCIS and NVC, and both regional director of USCIS and national director of NVC in their official capacity, because a decision has not been made in your case (aka has not moved forward) withing a reasonable time and you have proof that you used all possible means to inquire from agencies before suing them

     -usually requires lawyer and costs loads of money. Google it, you can find tons of cases published online

     -does not guarantee approval, instead it guarantees that a decision will be made soon

     -most of filed Writ of Mandamus don't end up in court as USCIS/NVC get back to you and lawyer and promise to work on the case

     -I don't know the background of your case, but I think and hope that it doesn't get to step 6

Obviously step 6 is very excessive and I really hope you won't need it.

I actually had to take all up to step 5 and it was a bit of a wait, but it worked!

On 8/9/2020 at 1:56 PM, _C&C_ said:

Hi, 

I got recently approved by uscis, the case status is just ‘case approved’, do they update to ‘sent to dep of state’ once is really sent to nvc? 
How long usually is the wait of receive the welcome letter ?

does any of you used the shortcut to call nvc to receive earlier code for caec?
 

Thanks

For me it took 78 days between USCIS approved the case and I heard back from NVC with a welcome email. So timelines will vary.

14 hours ago, Gar9 said:

 

Wow ! Congratulations . If you have received any intimation/ email from NVC , please upload the same , hiding personal details .  Please keep posted on further developements . Thanks . 

Sure. Please see email info. I am pretty sure your IR-5 cases will get reviewed by NVC as stated per time frames. If they did not guarantee reviewing cases, they probably would have mentioned it.

I think IR-5 will be stopped/paused at the next step of getting scheduled with the consulate/embassy.

Good luck!

On 7/16/2020 at 1:48 AM, Gar9 said:

 

 

Applicants who got DQed in a day or a week could be very lucky and exceptional . For sure, our cases are on the other side and we should consider ourselves lucky if DQed in  2-3 months . Now let us analyse NVC timeframe .

 

Quote - 

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/nvc-timeframes.html ;

 

Current case review time: As of 13-JUL-2020, we are reviewing documents submitted to us on 11-APR-2020. Please note, as result of April 22, 2020 Presidential Proclamation, we are reviewing documents for cases not subject to the travel restrictions first.

 

Un-Quote - 

 

“  We are reviewing documents for cases not subject to the travel restrictions first.  “   This statement can be viewed in two ways -  

 

1) If NVC considers documents (Docs) received on batch basis in a defined period , say in one month , then they will review Docs for  (a) cases without restrictions first , as explained above . Subsequently , if time is left in that month then only NVC wil review  b) cases with restriction ( e.g. IR-5 etc. ) .

 

2) In second situation , if  Nos. of  (a) cases without restrictions is quite large then NVC will go on reviewing such cases till 31st Dec 2020 . Later on  b) cases with restriction ( e.g. IR-5 etc. ) will be reviewed . So there will be huge delay for b) cases with restriction ( e.g. IR-5 etc. ) .

 

Any way I would like to know your comments and interpretation of the NVC statement , as above . Thanks .

 

Just got DQ'ed on both IR-5 cases.

NVC received all documents on 5/6 so it took then 77 days to complete the review.

I think now many things will be dependent on the outcome of general elections, covid, consulate and travel.

Good luck!

On 7/11/2020 at 1:35 AM, Gar9 said:

 

As per NVC Timeline , you are hoping to get DQed in 4-6weeks .  It is good to be hopeful . 

However, the  NVC Timeline is very general in nature and does not gaurantee that  IR-5 cases also will be reviewed and DQed by NVC , considering ban on IR-5 till end of this year . What is your opinion ? 

I am very new to NVC, these are my first pending cases with them; however I am very familiar with USCIS and SSA and how those two branches of federal government are handling timelines: normally a cutoff date is earlier than date of which the majority of cases are being processed. That is to say the median time of case resolution is usually lesser than that reported by an agency. This is coming from my personal experiences, filing cases with USCIS during both Obama and Trump era administrations.

I was going off the official wording where they admit that first they review cases that are not under travel/immigration ban.

This explains why some people (per VJ forums), uploaded documents to NVC and got DQ'ed in a week. I even remember someone posting some time in June that they got DQ'ed in a matter of day or two.

This also explains why others (such as you and I) are still waiting. Nevertheless my understanding is that indicated timeframes are universal and they are relevant to all cases, not just those "immune" from immigration/travel ban.

As for a "no guarantee of IR-5 cases being reviewed" can you share a source of this?

I still can't believe they have put IR-5 under immigrant ban. This is confusing since IR-5 is that immediate relative visa category.

Anyway, my i-130 petitions were approved 2/13/20. It took around 80 days for USCIS to forward petitions to NVC, so we only were able to pay for all fees and submit documents on 5/6/20.

Since then we are still waiting on any communication from NVC.

Will let you know if there is any update. So far their timelines are stating that they are reviewing April cases (as of 7/6). Unless something changes, I am most likely to hear from them in 4-6 weeks.

6 hours ago, nompish said:

Mom's case got Doc qualified. We are now waiting for interview date

Could you please share your timeline?

12 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

No they are IR-5.   The ban applies to them.    Only spouses, children and children being adopted are excluded from the "Immigrant" ban.   Nothing there has changed.

These are heartbreaking news, but I appreciate the answer.

50 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

Spouses and children of LPR's will continue to be banned until the end of the year.

What about parents of US citizens?

I can't figure it out. I thought parents are immediate relatives like spouses and children.

Could someone help me out to understand in visa IR5 category has been impacted by April 22 ban?

I got confused with it because on one hand IR5 is not listed as an exception, on the other hand my understanding is that this is an "Immediate Relative" category similar to children and spouses category.

Could someone explain this to me, I really would like to learn.

3 hours ago, Eandlevo said:

Just got DQ. Submitted document on 6/10.

Congratulations! Was that for CR-1 or IR-1 visa category?

On 6/6/2020 at 5:04 AM, Priiiiiiiiyyyaa said:

Thank you.. My file was processed from texas service center..

On 6/6/2020 at 5:20 AM, AP-1 said:

Texas usually give you case ID in a month. 

Just heads up, mine took 78 days, and it was about a month ago that they finally got back to me. Seems like some cases may be slower than others.

1 minute ago, Anmol Yash said:

We got notified by email. 

Congrats! That's exciting:) Thank you for prompt response.

2 hours ago, Anmol Yash said:

We got our DQ today (May 9) and we submitted our civil documents couple of days ago (May 7)

I'm so surprised and happy 😭

Did you get notified by email or did you actually have to log in every time to check in on the status?

Just wanted to pitch in. I bought a ~$20 printer/scanner at Walmart which does really goods quality scan.

Before scanning you can chose quality to be 150 DPI which is exactly what NVC recommends, and files usually are pretty small size.

The quality indeed is not great, but no matter what scanner you have, 150 DPI will always give you very grainy/noisy, but quite readable documents, which I guess is what NVC wants.

10 minutes ago, ordjnb said:

Does thank you 

Glad  to hear! Hope for me then 

You can call USCIS and ask if the case has already been electronically transmitted to NVC. They can see that in the system. If they tell you they can't see such thing, call again and ask a different agent. Some people are less helpful than others.

4 minutes ago, Greenbaum said:

Glad it worked out for you.

 

I know a thing or two because I have seen a thing or two. 

I was surprised to get an email because I thought executive order would stop NVC backend operations.

1 minute ago, NGorge said:

Wow.. Sorry you had to go through all that. Thank you so much for sharing what to do next. 

Had called NVC and USCIS a lot but to no avail. They keep repeating the same things that we can view online as the status ourselves. Since USCIS approved it initially, we were wondering if they were at fault. Hmm.. Much appreciated. 

Ask specifically about case activity. Ask when case was electronically transmitted. What is the last date in the ledger.

USCIS call times are very short.

Call their 800 number, then without listening to automated recording press 1 (for English), immediately 2 (other than case status), then 4 (address change, don't worry that it is unrelated), then 6 (connect to representative), then # (skip case number) and in 30 seconds you will be talking to tier 1 agent. Provide case number and start pushing them (but respectively and gently) to look into case activity from the USCIS>NVC electronic transmission standpoint.

Good luck!

On 4/15/2020 at 6:51 AM, Greenbaum said:

I wouldn't involve a lawyer at this time. This is just an administrative step that must be completed prior to the record moving on through the process. These things take time, especially through these times that we face. Trust the process! 

After calling both USCIS and NVC more than dozen times, inquiries into both NVC and USCIS, reaching out to senators office and freaking out, I finally got welcome letters from NVC.

Apparently petitions were bouncing back and forth between two agencies for at least 3 times within a span of 2.5 months.

 (Unrelated to Trump executive order).

You were right to not involve lawyers and trust the process.

Just now, NGorge said:

I am asking for a friend who is going through this. So yes. They got a welcome letter and had an invoice id assigned and NVC reviewed the case for 2 months after which they sent it back to USCIS for review. But no one at NVC or USCIS knows the reson for sending it back. They aren't giving any information. 

I was approved by USCIS, but my case was transferred back and forth between USCIS and NVC 3 times within 2.5 months with no reason.

I called for weeks to NVC and USCIS, sent inquiries, reached out to senator and representative. Then suddenly got welcome letter.

Generally USCIS will tell you that very few cases are being returned back. It can be due to technical (wrong date, misspelling, missing stamp from USCIS) or legal (insufficient proof of bona fide relationship, missing marriage certificate, etc) errors. 

According to USCIS policy if NVC returns the case back, USCIS will not send the petitioner another notice. Instead they will only update case status electronically. They will ask you to allow 180 days since the accepted returned date to review the case to address errors and/or reach out to you to request more evidence (rfe) if needed, before forwarding it back to NVC.

I recommend to send and email to 

nvcresearch@state.gov with a case number (USCIS or CEAC) in email subject, and in body mention petitioner name, beneficiary name, both USCIS/NVC case numbers and scanned approval from USCIS and welcome letter from NVC. If you have multiple cases, submit each email separately.

Expect response in about a week and a half. Unless Trump ban slows things down.

Next, also submit USCIS case inquiry via their website for each case.

Next, call first NVC support line (can be over an hour of wait) and ask questions about return, and then USCIS about the same. You may need to be calling USCIS many times, be prepared to hear three different answers, so you may need to be calling a lot. Lastly, you can request to speak to tier 2 representative, which may or may not be helpful. (In my case it was more helpful calling dozen times to talk to tier 1 people. Same question will result in various answers and you can get more info).

Most importantly don't lose faith and don't waste money for lawyer.

1 minute ago, ordjnb said:

I got approved 3/24 and haven't heard a thing. Do they send an email?

Yes. I got approved 2/12, got welcome email today.

2 hours ago, NGorge said:

Please help!!

USCIS approved case in December and sent it to NVC. But in March NVC sent our case back to USCIS.

No one is giving us any reason as to what is happened. Anyone on a similiar path or heard of this before???

 

Please help.

Have you received welcome letter?

6 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

Department of State  NVC/Consulates

That's interesting as I just got NVC welcome email today.