If you interviewed and your visa application was approved, please click here.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sends all immigrant visa petitions to the National Visa Center (NVC) for filing. The NVC then sends the petitions to the appropriate embassy or consulate. You can click here to check the status of your visa application any time using your case number.

* If the petition is still with USCIS: you may check the case status online here. For further information, please contact USCIS directly. Our office does not have any role in the immigrant visa petition process until USCIS approves the petition.

* If the petition is still with NVC: you will need to contact them directly if you have questions.

If you interviewed and your visa was not approved

Sometimes we need more information about your case, or sometimes required documents are missing. If this happens, we will give you an OF-194 “blue sheet” explaining what we need, or why we can’t issue you a visa. Most of beneficiaries are refused under Section 221(g) and Section 212(a)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Below is more information on each of these ineligibilities:

Section 221(g)

Refusal under Section 221(g) means that essential information is missing from an application or that an application requires additional administrative processing. The consular officer who interviews you will tell you at the end of your interview if your case is refused under 221(g) pending further information. The officer will either tell you that the case has to undergo administrative processing, or will ask you to submit additional information.

If further information is required, the officer will tell you how to submit that information. As part of this process, you will be given a written letter (OF-194), and will have 12 months from the date of your application to submit the requested documents without having to pay a new visa application fee. Please follow the instructions in the refusal letter. After one year, an application refused under Section 221(g) is terminated per Section 203(e).

Some Reasons for Denial Under Section 221(g):

Missing or expired medical results or police certificates at the time of the interview.
DNA testing suggested because submitted documents failed to support the relationship.
Missing Affidavit of Support (form I-864/ I-864A) from petitioners or joint sponsors.
If the OF-194 states “additional, necessary administrative processing” is required, the beneficiary does not need to submit any documents and must wait for our consular officers to review the case. We will contact the beneficiary when the review is complete. Please note that the one year period does not apply in this type of denial.

Section 212(a)(1)

Section 212(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Act prohibits the issuance of a visa to an applicant with a communicable disease of public health significance. You should return to the panel physician who conducted your medical examination for appropriate treatment of the medical condition. When that condition has improved sufficiently, you may be eligible for a visa. At that time, our office will contact you directly for instructions on how to continue with your case. Please do not return to our office until you receive information from us.

The officer is sending my case back to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), now what?

Cases are returned to USCIS for closure or revocation for a number of reasons. If this happens, we will explain the next steps and return all your personal documents. It can take several months for a petition to be received by USCIS. Once a case is returned to USCIS, the case is administratively closed in our office. Any further inquiries, including any possible further actions to be taken, should be made directly with the USCIS Service Center where the petition was filed. Their contact information is available here.

I need a waiver, what do I do?

If you were informed by the consular officer that you were found ineligible to receive a visa, but were eligible to apply for a waiver of the visa ineligibility, please refer to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website for information regarding waiver application procedures.

I did not take action on my case for over a year.

Section 203(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act requires intending immigrants to pursue their visa applications within one year from the date they are given official notice to apply for an immigrant visa. If the beneficiary fails to take action on the case within a year, the visa petition is temporarily terminated. A Notice of Termination is sent (TERMLT-1) if the beneficiary fails to:

Submit a DS-260 visa application form
Show up for the visa interview without having submitted a written notice to the Immigrant Visa (IV) Unit; or
Take further action on his/her visa application after it was refused under INA 221(g) or due to lack of documentation.

If you can prove you did not take action within one year of receiving your termination notice for reasons beyond your control, then we may be able to reinstate your case. The beneficiary or petitioner should contact us to explain in writing why they did not take action regarding their petition.

Note: Applicants who wait more than one year to pursue their cases after a 221(g) refusal might be required to pay a new visa application processing fee before processing of their application resumes.

If applicants do not respond to a termination notice within one year of the notice being sent, a Final Notice of Cancellation (TERMLT-2) is sent. At this point, the visa petition and its supporting documents are destroyed.

Please be aware that petitioners, beneficiaries, and their legal representatives are responsible for providing their current and correct addresses to the National Visa Center (NVC) and our office to ensure that correspondence regarding visa petitions reaches beneficiaries in time.