Consular Processing
Consular Processing and Expedited Consular Processing
What is Consular Processing?
A consular process takes place when a green card application is processed outside the United States.
Immigrants will have their application processed outside the US if they entered without permission or unlawfully, if they reside in another country, or if the immigrant falls into certain preference categories.
The Law Office of Dahlia Castillo will prepare your family petition and submit it to USCIS. Once the family petition has been approved, USCIS will send the approved petition to the National Visa Center (NVC) for the second step in the process. Usually, it will take about one or two months for the approved petition to get to the NVC. The NVC will then send a list of documents and other instructions for you to perform to get ready for your consular interview.
Once you have provided the NVC with all the documents they requested, they will send you an email informing you that your documents have been received and that you are in line for your consular interview.
Once you receive an email from the NVC with your interview date and time, you will meet with Attorney Castillo to prepare for your interview. While you are abroad for your interview attorney Castillo is available for you during your entire stay and after your interview until you return to the United States as a lawful permanent resident.
Expedited request through the National Visa Center
The National Visa Center (NVC) is the US agency that holds immigrant visa petitions that have been approved by USCIS until the requested visa has been made available for the beneficiary of said petition. At that point, the NVC directs the US embassy abroad to arrange the interview with the beneficiary.
There are currently great delays at the NVC, and consular processing times are overwhelmingly long for most petitions. The pandemic has negatively affected a system that was already under tremendous pressure, given that there are more petitions than available visas, and each year the backlog increases.
In certain instances, the NVC will agree to speed up the processing time of an application if the situation requires it. This is called an expedited process, and may be requested due to:
- Delays caused by the NVC
- Urgent humanitarian reasons
- Petitioner has serious physical or mental health conditions and requires care by the beneficiary
- Beneficiary is pregnant and due date is soon
- Verifiable financial hardship
- Underage beneficiary is turning 21 and will “age out” of their visa petition