PETITION APPROVED, NOW WHAT?

If you are eligible for attorney review, because you filed your I-130 with our office, we estimate most cases will require approximately four hours of attorney review (see below).

STEP ONE

(receive NVC invoice with case no. and login credentials)

 Once the I-130 petition is approved by USCIS, USCIS will mail the case to the National Visa Center, who will notify you by email of your case number and invoice number (login and password for the NVC website).  If our office filed your I-130, we will also receive an email.  This can take several weeks to happen.  If you believe that you should have received an email from the NVC, but have not, you can contact the NVC through their contact form and request this information: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html  
STEP TWO

(pay the immigrant visa fees, complete a draft of the DS-260 application, and submit after attorney review)

 Once you receive the case no. and invoice no. from the NVC (i.e., the login and password), you need to login to the NVC website and pay the

https://ceac.state.gov/IV/Login.aspx

  1. Pay two payments with a check.  The total amount will be $445.  Then wait a day or two until the application is unlocked.
  2. Begin a draft of the application until the end without submitting.  DO NOT SUBMIT until you have had an attorney review your draft application.  First estimated hour of attorney review.  The attorney will want to login to the system and review the DS-260 draft with you.  Changes can be made at that time, and the form can be submitted at that time by the immigrant. 
  3. After making any necessary changes, the immigrant will SIGN/SUBMIT the application [this cannot be done by any other person – or from any other computer]
  4. Save a copy of the DS-260 application after submission.  Save a copy of the DS-260 confirmation page with barcode after submission.

Note: documents cannot be uploaded to the NVC website until the application is first submitted.
STEP THREE

(prepare all supporting documents, including affidavit of support documents, without upload to the NVC website

 You will want to prepare all document and save them to two folders on your desktop.  Make sure the affidavit of support is signed/ dated with ink.

  1. Affidavit of Support + Documents [CLICK HERE]
  2. Civil Documents [CLICK HERE]

Second estimated hour of attorney review.  The attorney will want to take over your computer and review all documents with you, so please have them carefully organized on your desktop in two folders. Time permitting, the attorney can also assist to upload the documents and submit them to the NVC.  Please DO NOT do this without attorney guidance as it can cause significant delay.  
STEP FOUR

(carefully submit the documents to the NVC and wait for the case to be “Document Qualified“)

 Since the NVC is so picky, and can delay your case considerably if your submission is not perfect, we recommend that you have the attorney upload + submit your documents to the NVC with you after making any suggested corrections.

Third estimated hour of attorney review.

Once the case is “Document Qualified” by the NVC (See estimated case processing times here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/nvc-timeframes.html)
STEP FIVE

(receive email from the consulate with interview time & make final preparations for the interview)

 The immigrant will need to make final preparations for the interview once the consulate or NVC informs the immigrant that the interview is scheduled (or must be self-scheduled in limited cases).

Fourth estimated hour of attorney review, to review new documents, discuss the interview, assist with website (USTravelDocs.com or https://cgifederal.secure.force.com) technical issues, etc. 

The immigrant will require a medical examination, the immigrant will often need to register the interview and register for post-interview passport delivery, and the immigrant will need to make sure all required original supporting documents are collected.

LINK TO CONSULATE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/ACC-Accra.html

*** You must replace the first three capital letters in pink above with the first three capital letters from the NVC case no., and you must type the name of the city where “Accra” currently is.  The remainder of the link should stay exactly the same.