NVC processing time

Why we don’t show an NVC time

Every number on this site comes from USCIS or Department of Labor files, or from an official page we checked the same day. The NVC belongs to the State Department, and none of the USCIS files we use covers it. The State Department publishes NVC timeframes on its NVC timeframes page. We could not open that page on Nov. 5, 2026, so we link it instead of repeating its figures. Check it directly, because those dates move.

Two other waits sit around the NVC stage, and both are public:

• Before it: the USCIS petition. Figures below.
• Inside it, for preference categories: the visa number. Your priority date must be earlier than the cut-off for your category and country in the monthly Visa Bulletin.

What happens at the NVC, step by step

This is how USCIS describes consular processing (USCIS consular processing):

1. USCIS sends the approved petition to the NVC. It stays there until a visa number is available. For immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, a number is always available (visa availability).
2. The NVC contacts you. It notifies the petitioner and the beneficiary when it receives the petition, and again when a visa number is about to be available.
3. Fees and documents. The NVC tells you when to pay the fee bills and when to submit the supporting documents. The State Department’s own pages explain the fee payment, the DS-260 immigrant visa application and the civil documents for each country.
4. Interview scheduling. Once a visa is available, or your priority date is current, the consular office schedules the interview. The State Department’s NVC pages use the term “documentarily qualified” for a case whose fees and documents are complete; read there what it means for your interview date.
5. The interview and the visa. If the visa is approved, you receive a “Visa Packet”, which USCIS says not to open.

While you wait, USCIS says to tell the NVC about a change of address, a beneficiary turning 21, or a change in marital status.

The wait before the NVC: USCIS figures

These are the USCIS medians for the petitions that usually send a case to the NVC.

Source: USCIS, All Forms by Quarter, FY2026 Q3. The medians cover cases USCIS finished in the quarter. For immediate relatives, USCIS decided 99,297 I-130s in the quarter: 82,636 approvals and 16,661 denials.

The monthly report to Congress does not split immediate relatives from other relatives. For all I-130s together, it gave an average of 18.1 months in August 2026, with 2,475,445 petitions pending and 2,165,902 of them pending more than 6 months (87.5%, our calculation). A median and an average measure different things over different periods, so do not subtract one from the other. Details by form: I-130 processing time, K-1 visa processing time and I-140 processing time.

For family preference and employment cases, the time at the NVC can be much longer than the USCIS step, because the case waits there for a visa number. USCIS says family preference visas are limited to 226,000 a year and employment-based visas to 140,000, with limits per country (visa availability and priority dates). Your priority date is on the I-797 approval notice.

A K-1 case is different: the NVC forwards it to the embassy or consulate where the fiancé(e) lives, and there is no visa number wait. After entry, the couple has 90 days to marry; see K-1 visa processing time for the steps after that.

After the interview: travel and the green card

Per the USCIS consular processing page:

• Pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee before you travel. It is $235 on the current G-1055. K nonimmigrants, orphan and Hague adoptees, Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants and SB-1 returning residents pay $0.
• Keep the visa packet sealed. A CBP officer inspects you at the port of entry.
• The green card comes by mail. USCIS mails it after you arrive. If it has not arrived within 90 days, USCIS says to call the Contact Center at 800-375-5283 or use the e-Request tool.

To follow the card’s production, see green card status.

If your case seems stuck

Who you contact depends on where the case is.

1. Still at USCIS. Compare your receipt date with the time shown on the USCIS processing times page. If it is past that time, submit an e-Request or call the USCIS Contact Center. USCIS can also consider an expedite request for reasons such as an emergency or a clear USCIS error.
2. Approved and sent to the NVC. The case is now with the State Department, and its NVC pages are the place to check and to ask.
3. Green card not received 90 days after entry. Call 800-375-5283 or use e-Request, as USCIS says.

You can read what each USCIS status message means in our status index. The YourCaseStatus app (coming soon) will alert you when your status changes. For every form, see the processing times hub.

Official links

• USCIS consular processing
• State Department NVC timeframes
• Visa Bulletin, State Department
• Visa appointment wait times, State Department
• Check your USCIS case status