How long does it take for Immigrant Visa case transfer between US Consulates?

[socaldude 11]

Dear forum,

I am the applicant of a CR-1 visa and wondering roughly how long it should take for my case to be transferred between U.S. Consulates?

I know it's hard to say since this involves "internal process" between U.S. Consulates, but I'm asking based on your experiences (for those of you who have requested visa case transfers).

Specifically, in my case the NVC assigned my case to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. However, I am a resident of Hong Kong, have never lived in China, nor did I ever request NVC to transfer my case to Guangzhou.

Common sense would be if the applicant is a resident of Hong Kong, then NVC should transfer my case to the US Consulate in Hong Kong for further processing (i.e. visa interview).

Anyways long story short, the US Consulate Hong Kong send me a letter dated February 27, 2015 to acknowledge my Case Transfer request and said they will contact me when my file is received from US Consulate in Guangzhou.

(FYI - here is link on US Consulate Hong Kong website about Case Transfers - http://hongkong.usconsulate.gov/iv_case_transfer.html)

Maybe I'm just being an impatient brat (sorry) but since it's been over 1 month, I was hoping by now the US Consulate in Hong Kong would have received my case from Guangzhou.

I just emailed US Consulate Hong Kong today (March 30th) and they replied saying they are still waiting for my case from Guangzhou.

So getting back to the point/my question...has anyone specifically been in the same exact situation as me, where they requested US Consulate Hong Kong to have their case transferred from US Consulate Guangzhou to the consulate in Hong Kong for processing? If yes, roughly how long did you have to wait before you got the visa interview letter?

Hoping someone can shed light on this question...thanks in advance.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to US Embassy & Consulate Discussion.

[sandraPro 3]

So sorry! Sounds bad enough.

I would call NVC and call Hong Kong, and explain. Just do not mention the part about "common sense". Or have an attorney call for you.

Dear forum,

I am the applicant of a CR-1 visa and wondering roughly how long it should take for my case to be transferred between U.S. Consulates?

I know it's hard to say since this involves "internal process" between U.S. Consulates, but I'm asking based on your experiences (for those of you who have requested visa case transfers).

Specifically, in my case the NVC assigned my case to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. However, I am a resident of Hong Kong, have never lived in China, nor did I ever request NVC to transfer my case to Guangzhou.

Common sense would be if the applicant is a resident of Hong Kong, then NVC should transfer my case to the US Consulate in Hong Kong for further processing (i.e. visa interview).

Anyways long story short, the US Consulate Hong Kong send me a letter dated February 27, 2015 to acknowledge my Case Transfer request and said they will contact me when my file is received from US Consulate in Guangzhou.

(FYI - here is link on US Consulate Hong Kong website about Case Transfers - http://hongkong.usconsulate.gov/iv_case_transfer.html)

Maybe I'm just being an impatient brat (sorry) but since it's been over 1 month, I was hoping by now the US Consulate in Hong Kong would have received my case from Guangzhou.

I just emailed US Consulate Hong Kong today (March 30th) and they replied saying they are still waiting for my case from Guangzhou.

So getting back to the point/my question...has anyone specifically been in the same exact situation as me, where they requested US Consulate Hong Kong to have their case transferred from US Consulate Guangzhou to the consulate in Hong Kong for processing? If yes, roughly how long did you have to wait before you got the visa interview letter?

Hoping someone can shed light on this question...thanks in advance.

[RKD314 2]

I am also waiting for my case to be transferred. I don't know if you are still waiting, but what does your status in CEAC show? Mine shows "transfer in progress", so I know that the first consulate (Paris in my case) actually has forwarded the case.

I too would like to know how long it takes. In my case it is going to Bern, which is very close to Paris. Regular mail at it's very slowest takes no more than a week to go between these two cities. However, I don't know if they use something like regular mail, or something faster (NVC sent to Paris by DHL), or some kind of "internal" mail which could be slower.

If you are still in this position, the problem could be that Guangzhou has not actually even sent your case on yet. In my case I had to bother Paris with emails for about 4 days straight, and then they sent it ASAP so I'd leave them alone!

[socaldude 11]

Hi RKD314,

Thankfully my case did get transferred eventually from Guangzhou to Hong Kong Consulate and I passed my visa interview :-)

I would say the "internal transfer" process between consulates took about 2 months even though GZ is in close proximity to Hong Kong, guessing about the same from Paris to Berlin, if not closer. When I requested the transfer initially I thought it would take 2-4 weeks, but when it started to be almost 2 months without any reply, I got worried and wrote to consulate in Hong Kong again. They responded back immediately and told me my case had been received/interview scheduled.

I would say the amount of time it takes to case transfer varies greatly in each situation. Besides proximity between consulates I believe there are other factors regarding the "internal transfer" that we are unaware of. I am guessing besides the physical transfer of documents, there might be a sort of queue to process cases in the order they are received (don't know just a guess).

Anyways patience and persistance is the key. I would say to anyone waiting for internal transfer, give the consulate a reasonable amount of time and if you still don't hear back, keep following up with them every so often, but don't do it to the point where you bug them so often either...try to strike the right balance and good luck

[RKD314 2]

Thanks for your response, it is good to hear your experience.

I hate not knowing at all how long it will take. I think that one point in our favor is that Bern has very little traffic.

I saw that the case left paris on May 19. I wrote to the Bern embassy and told them, that the case has left Paris, and when will be the right time to start scheduling the interview, doing medical, etc? I also told them that I am leaving for the USA on June 5 (I currently live in Europe with my husband) to start my new job, and that if the interview could be done by then so that my husband could come with me it would help our family a lot. They told me to have him do the medical ASAP, scheduled an interview for June 2, and said we could move it to an earlier date if the case arrived before then. So.....based on that response, I am assuming that they would consider 1-2 weeks the "normal" transit time? But I really have no idea....

[socaldude 11]

I see, well I wish you the best with getting your case transferred and the interview scheduled.

One word of caution though (I'm sure you're aware of this + the consulate always warns) not to quit job/make travel plans, etc. until you have the immigrant visa in hand. I say this because you mentioned leaving for the US on June 5th to start a new job, which is right around the corner. Unless I am mistaken by this assumption, don't you think it's a bit risky to make travel plans for June 5th, not knowing if you will have your interview scheduled prior to that?

Also, even if your visa interview is scheduled prior to June 5th, keep in mind the visa interview does not guarantee you will pass interview on same day. Although, I hope you pass on first try, but just a word of caution, you should always be prepared to come back if the consulate requires additional documents, etc to approve your immigrant visa. Secondly you need to factor in the few days it will take for your passport to visa to arrive in the mail after you pass your interview. Lastly, after you receive your passport which includes a "visa packet" - as part of the packet you will need to go online to pay the Immigrant Visa fee, which costs about USD $160 before you travel to the U.S.

I'm sure you have done your homework (most of us have when applying for visa, cuz it's so strict procedure to follow) but just in case you missed something, just thought I'd share. Good luck to you and your husband and hope you pass with flying colors :-)

[RKD314 2]

The interview is not for me, I am the USC. My husband is the one who will be interviewing. I am also pretty sure he'll pass, we've been married for 4 years and have a kid, basically there is no reason he would fail (and SZ is not at all a high fraud consulate).

[meenaabraham 0]

Hai,  Iam an Indian,waiting for my EB3 visa interview.  I have requested a transfer of my case from middle east to Montreal,Canada, on aug1 2017,as iam a PR of this place. How long I have to wait for this process to complete?  My status shows 'ready', but no interview date yet as its not yet transferred to Montreal. How long it takes to get an inter date after completion of the transfer.  If anyoneknows any clue,please share