Approved, sort of?

[Dual National 0]

My wife and I have been married for nearly 20 years, and have lived outside the US for all of that time. She's Indian, I'm a US citizen. We have two kids with American passports. Sghe travels on an Indian passport, and has always received visitors visa for the US without problem.

I filled out an I-130 early this year, after we bought a house in the US. We decided we would apply for her so that the immigrant visa was issued outside the country, rather than changing her status. She left the US and went back to our place overseas, where we still rent a flat, in May. I'm left caring for the children full time.

About the same time, we received this notice:

"Post Decision Activity

On May 8, 2013, we shipped this approved or re-affirmed case to the Department of State for visa processing. For more information, please contact them directly.

For approved applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include USCIS sending notification of the approved application/petition to the National Visa Center or the Department of State. For denied applications/petitions, post-decision activity may include the processing of an appeal and/or motions to reopen or reconsider and revocations."

We received another letter at about the same time saying we should wait 30 days before contacting the US consulate.

All that sounds promising enough, but we are not sure how to proceed, and not sure who we should contact at the Dept of State. One might think the notice would provide that information. The consulate sn't helpful, and the letter isn't enough, apparently, to schedule an appointment with a visa officer.

Any suggestions would be warmly appreciated.

[Darnell 8,478]

You need to start NVC Document Intake, soonish.

Find LingChe in the wiki, and study study study.

you've not mentioned anything about NVC in anything you've written in yer post, but

trust me - that's the next step - to handle all NVC document intake.

Go Get Em (finding LingChe in the wiki) and Good Luck !

[Dual National 0]

The only mention of the NVC in the correspondence thus far was in an earlier letter, which stated that the approval documents would be sent EITHER to the NVC or the Dept of State. Why would it be worded this way? Are all immigrant visa applications sent through the NVC, or are some exempted?

The last correspondence seems to suggest that our case now rests with the Dept of State, whom we are supposed to contact.

I'd like to think that since we have been married so long and visited the US so many times, there would be some expidited handling. After all, she could have applied for a change of status in the US. We decided instead to observe the letter of the law, which seemed to say that the accepted progress is to apply for an immigrant visa from outside the country.

No additional documents have been requested of us. On the other hand, we expected further direction at this juncture.

She has a visitors visa valid for 10 years, so she can always come to the US. She will have to soon, because we don't want her separated from the kids for so long. But if she comes without her immigrant visa, she'll have to leave the country again.

You need to start NVC Document Intake, soonish.

Find LingChe in the wiki, and study study study.

you've not mentioned anything about NVC in anything you've written in yer post, but

trust me - that's the next step - to handle all NVC document intake.

Go Get Em (finding LingChe in the wiki) and Good Luck !

[Darnell 8,478]

bonus points for rereading (and acting upon) post #2 .

[ShirahBet 42]

The National Visa Center is essentially the Department of State. But I believe there are instances where some cases go directly to the embassy or consulate. My letter was worded exactly the same and was processed through the National Visa Center.