National Visa Center No Longer Requires Original Civil Documents

In an important (and surely welcome by many) announcement, the National Visa Center (NVC) has announced that as of November 12, 2014, they would no longer start requiring and collecting original civil documents in support of immigrant visa (green card) cases.     Most applicants will simply need to submit photocopies of the applicable required civil documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, police certificate, etc.) to NVC and bring the originals to the Consulate for the immigrant visa interview.

New Instructions to NVC Applicants Starting November 12, 2014

After NVC applicants (and their petitioners, as applicable) collect the Affidavit of Support form(s), financial evidence, and supporting civil documents, they are instructed to submit all of the documents to NVC.   As of November 12, 2014, applicants at non-electronic processing posts will be instructed to submit photocopies of their civil documents by mail.   NVC will review the copies and, when the case is documentarily complete, will place the copies into the file, which will be sent to the Consular post, increasing the number of cases that are documentarily qualified.  In other words, not requiring original civil documents is likely to allow more people to complete their NVC process faster.

When the appointment is scheduled, NVC will instruct applicants to bring their original documents to the interview for evaluation and final case processing. Original Affidavit of Support forms will still be submitted to NVC for initial evaluation. Applicants at designated electronic processing posts (and only for those posts) will continue to submit their documents via email.

Conclusion

We welcome this announcement from NVC because it is likely to significantly shorten the time it takes to complete an NVC case.   According to NVC, they expect this slight change in the process to reduce customer wait times and improve the customer experience overall.

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