Notifying National Visa Center (NVC) About a Change of Address Before Visa Interview

If you have an immigrant visa case in process in the United States (for example, a U.S. family member has petitioned for you), and if your final interview will be held at a U.S. consulate in another country, it's likely that your application file will, at some point, be handled by an intermediary called the National Visa Center (NVC).

That's particularly true if you are on a waiting list for an available visa number. This would happen because you're not an "immediate relative" of a U.S. citizen or in another category where demand for immigrant visas is lower than supply, and your "priority date" is not yet current. Some people wait years, during which the NVC might be the sole holder of their file.

Given the NVC's importance to eventually moving your case along, it's crucial that you advise it of any changes of address, email address, or other contact information.

What Does the National Visa Center (NVC) Do?

The NVC is an office within the Department of State that acts as a sort of an intermediary, handling applicants' files after the initial petition approval by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), maintaining these files while waiting for the applicants to have current priority dates and thus available visas. Depending on the type of visa you hope to qualify for, your file might be held at the NVC for anywhere from several weeks to several years or even decades.

When a visa is available, or will soon be available, for your immigrant visa category, the NVC will email you with instructions on which documents you must upload to its electronic portal prior to your interview being scheduled. The NVC will then review your document uploads, determine whether they meet the specific U.S. consulate or embassy's requirements, and perform other pre-screening functions.

Once you have uploaded all the documents so that you meet these pre-screening requirements, the NVC will continue holding your case until an interview time is available. Then, the NVC will arrange for the transfer of the file to the appropriate overseas U.S. consulate or embassy.

Why Do You Need to Send the NVC a Separate Change of Address Notification?

During the months or years it takes for your case to be completed, it's not unlikely that either the U.S. petitioner (the family member or employer who filed the initial visa petition, for example on Form I-130 or I-140) or the foreign-born beneficiary (the intending immigrant) will move or get a new telephone number or email address. For many types of immigrant applications, the foreign beneficiary, at least, would need to submit Form AR-11 to USCIS or advise the agency online after having moved to a new address.

But this does not necessarily work for cases at the NVC. The NVC is not part of USCIS, therefore, you can't count on USCIS to pass along your latest contact information.

Inconvenient though this is, you might need to communicate directly with the NVC to keep your immigration plans on track. Email is now the primary form of communication that the NVC uses to communicate with all parties involved in a case, so it is just as important to notify them of a change in your email address as it is a change in your physical address.

Once your visa petition is approved by USCIS and received by the NVC, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access your NVC online account. You can update your email contact information directly in your account profile. Within your account profile summary page, in the top right-hand corner of the page, click on the box "e-mail addresses", then "edit" and you can change the email addresses for both the U.S. petitioner and the immigrating beneficiary.

To update any other parts of your contact information, go to the NVC's online inquiry form. If you are worried that you might have already missed some notifications, you can also use this form to contact the NVC and ask about the status of your case. To send an inquiry, you will need your NVC case number, the name of the petitioner, and the name and date of birth of the principal beneficiary.

(In the past, NVC has allowed access via telephone, at 1-603-334-0700. However, it has suspended use of this public inquiry line.)

Getting Legal Help

An experienced immigration attorney can be hugely helpful in preparing and monitoring your application for a U.S. visa and green card.