General Information
Every fiscal year (October 1st – September 30th), approximately 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas are made available to qualified applicants under the provisions of U.S. immigration law, specifically the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Employment based immigrant visas are divided into five preference categories. Certain spouses and children may accompany or follow-to-join employment-based immigrants. You can learn more about these five categories of employment-based immigrant visas on the Department of State website.
To apply for an employment-based immigrant visa, follow the steps on the Immigrant Visa Process on the Department of State website. Once you have completed those steps, review the instructions given to you by the National Visa Center (NVC), along with the information presented on this website, for further guidance and instructions.
How do I schedule an appointment?
Interviews are done by appointment only. The National Visa Center (NVC) schedules interviews for all immigrant visa applicants except for K-1 (fiancé/fiancée), and SB-1 (returning resident) visa applications.
NVC cannot schedule interviews until your case becomes current. Because the availability of some visas are limited by the U.S. Congress, some visa categories move faster than others. For information on the different processing dates for each visa category, please visit the visa bulletin.
Contact Us
Please note that we will not respond to inquiries sent by postal mail or fax.