After an overseas I-130 petition is approved, it moves to the National Visa Center (NVC) for further processing before being forwarded to a U.S. embassy or consulate for an immigrant visa interview. According to the Department of State, as of 2023, applicants can expect an additional wait time ranging from 6 to 12 months before their visa interview is scheduled. This timeframe can vary significantly depending on the applicant's country of residence and the workload at the specific U.S. consulate or embassy, with some locations experiencing backlogs that extend the wait to over a year.
My I-130 has been approved for my overseas spouse. Does this mean that I'm almost finished?
Hi, Jim Hacking, an immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States at our office here in St. Louis, Missouri. We recently got hired by a client who had filed an I-130 petition for an alien relative for his overseas spouse. The spouse is from Thailand, and he thought that he was pretty much finished. He was wondering why we needed to charge additional legal fees and what extra work needed to be done. Let's talk about the overall process so that I can tell you how I explained things to him.
Key Takeaways:
• Sponsoring a spouse for a green card in the US involves two main agencies: USCIS and the National Visa Center (NVC).
• After USCIS approval, the NVC approval can take 3-4 months, with additional interview wait time depending on the embassy's workload.
• The foreign spouse must attend the interview to confirm marriage and intentions.
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When you're a US citizen or a green card holder, for that matter, you have the ability to sponsor your husband or wife for a green card and for a visa to come to the United States.
The first part of the online immigrant visa application involves dealing with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and filing Form I-130. You also file some other forms along with evidence of the marriage, but basically, you're petitioning for approval of a visa application for your spouse down the road.
How does it work?
You send in the I-130. Once the USCIS receives your Form I-130, you'll receive your priority date, which acts like a ticket number in a queue.
The case gets processed in about four or five months, and then it gets approved. That's the stage at which this fellow happened to contact us. He thought he was pretty much done and that his wife would be here soon. We had to explain to him that there's a lot more work involved at that point.
The NVC is part of the State Department. It's where they process all the visa paperwork before it is actually sent to the embassies.
In the NVC, you have to submit a whole new set of personal and financial documents, and a new application. I know it sounds silly, but you have to remember you're dealing with 2 huge federal agencies. In these cases, you file a form called the DS-260 which is an electronic form that is actually applying for the visa, and you have to submit all this evidence about the individual coming and about the person who's sponsoring them, sort of where the person is going to live when they get here, and a lot of information about the person's criminal background and all those things.
After you submit the DS-260, you also have to submit something called the affidavit of support. We've lots of videos on that, so if you want to learn about the affidavit of support, just search for that. But basically, it's a promise by a U.S. citizen or a green card holder that if the non-citizen comes to the United States, they're going to support them and that the person is not going to become a public charge, they're not going to get benefits.
After you do that, you have to submit the checklist, which contains all the required supporting documents related to the application. For most countries, you submit it by federal express or courier. For certain countries, including Iraq, you submit that electronically, so then via scanning in a bunch of PDFs and sending that all off. Track your case using the official website of the Consular Electronic Application Center.
Typically, the National Visa Center will often send back a checklist. They like to ask for lots of things. We do our very best to cut down on the number of checklists, but they invariably ask for something else or more. In any event, there's some back-and-forth.
Once the case gets approved by the National Visa Center, which takes about 3 or 4 months because they are a little bit behind, then your case gets put in line for an interview.
Depending on how busy the embassy is, this line for the interview can be several months long. Then, you're at a point where you're waiting for your spouse to get their visa appointment. Then, your spouse is going to get an appointment. They're going to bring their passport, all their identity documents. They're going to want to bring copies of everything that has been submitted to the National Visa Center. In some situations, they're going to ask for originals.
But in any event, eventually, the interview will come, and your spouse will go to the embassy. It will be a relatively short interview to make sure that the spouse still wants to come and that you're still married. They might need some background information about how they met.
Then after that, the foreign national will leave their passport with the office, and about a week or 2 later, they should get it in the mail or via Federal Express. It is not mail; it is just Federal Express or a courier. Or they'll be able to pick it up at the embassy. Then, at that point, the person will have a visa to come.
Applicants who have dealt with both domestic and overseas cases often ask about the i-485 vs i-130 interview — the key difference is that overseas cases go through consular processing while domestic cases use adjustment of status, meaning the interview format and officer focus can differ.
The last stage before the person actually enters the United States is that you have to go online and pay a fee called the ELIS fee, which is the actual fee for the green card.
These are the steps that are involved after an I-130 is approved. We hope this explains things to people. There is a lot of work to be done after the I-130 has been approved. The I-130, I wouldn't say, is the easy part, but it is certainly the least time-consuming part, and it's an overall long process.
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The timeline after I-130 approval to the embassy interview can take several months, depending on multiple factors. However, here's a general guideline:
Important Note: The processing times for immigrant visas and the wait for the interview can be affected by factors such as:
For a more specific and accurate timeline in your case, it's recommended to:
Remember, even though the interview wait time can be frustrating, I-130 approval signifies a significant step forward in becoming a lawful permanent resident.
If you have any questions related to citizenship and immigration services, call us at 314-961-8200 or email me at [email protected]. If you liked this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, and we'll be sure to update it from time to time. Thanks a lot.
