Beneficiary's Contact Information

[Wallhut 34]

I just received my I-797 approval from USCIS. The case will now go on to the NVC. Does the NVC do anything besides just assign a case number and forward the case to the U.S. Consulate in the beneficiary's country (in my case, Ghana)? Also, the mailing address on the I-129F for my fiance is accurate, but Ghana does not do door-to-door mail delivery like in other places. There is a good phone number and email address for him on the application though. Is there any way I can update his mailing address to a PO Box so he can receive mail? Will the Ghanaian U.S. Embassy only mail him his notice? If he does not receive a written notice from the embassy in a certain amount of time are there other options? Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

[TNJ17 1,329]

Hi. Congrats on approval. K1 cases don’t get processed at NVC so they’ll just enter it into the system, assign a number and send it down. You’re looking at around 8 weeks for the case to reach NVC. Things might be getting a little faster, so check the google spreadsheet to see which dates are getting to NVC to get an estimate of when yours will be. You can start calling NVC after people with dates around yours start listing case received. After it gets to NVC it’s another two weeks to get a case number and be sent out to the embassy. I don’t think you have to worry about the address because whatever the embassy will send your fiancé is gonna be through email. The US citizen will get another notification in the mail from NVC with the assigned number but nothing should go down to your fiancé. I wouldn’t try to make a change of address just for the one reason that it might just add time to your waiting around time. We thought about changing address after approval and just decided it wasn’t needed and it would hurt more than it would help. You can fill the ds-160 with the new address, they will eventually need an address to send the passport to after visa issuance unless you decide to pick it up yourself. You can always try to change the address at the embassy level after your interview has been scheduled but I don’t think it’s necessary. Good luck. 

[Wallhut 34]

Thank you so much for this very helpful reply.