NVC Case Assigned to the Wrong Consulate

[Scott001 128]

Same thing happened to us. My wife was on a long term work assignment in China. She lives in Japan and was scheduled to go back well before our case hit NVC. (She's a China passport holder.)

 

It was a PIA for us to get the case transferred. It took months. We kept getting the runaround from NVC, Guangzhou and the embassy in Japan.  Each place kept saying call the other. In the end, I contacted my Reps (lucky their offices are right down the street) and they were able to get the case quickly transferred. I had to provide copies of my wife's JP ID card as proof she lived there. 

 

Requested location change: Mid Nov. 2019 --> Feb. 21, 2020

Contacted my Reps (House, Senate): Feb. 5, 2020 - Rep contacted Guangzhou & Tokyo. 

Response 1: Feb. 11, 2020 - Guangzhou gave copy/paste info to my Rep's office.

Response 2: Feb. 18, 2020 - Tokyo Embassy - Requested transfer fm China - Case moved to Administrative Processing 

Response 3: Feb. 21, 2020 - Transfer complete; New interview scheduled.

 

Like others have said, emailing NVC will probably be the easiest. If your case gets approved and sent to the consulate you'll have to contact them. If it gets too frustrating (and it will) you can get your Reps involved. They should have staff dedicated to immigration issues. 

 

I hope you're able to get the case transferred w/o any problems. 

 

[Kaleb8082 7]

14 minutes ago, Scott001 said:

Same thing happened to us. My wife was on a long term work assignment in China. She lives in Japan and was scheduled to go back well before our case hit NVC. (She's a China passport holder.)

 

It was a PIA for us to get the case transferred. It took months. We kept getting the runaround from NVC, Guangzhou and the embassy in Japan.  Each place kept saying call the other. In the end, I contacted my Reps (lucky their offices are right down the street) and they were able to get the case quickly transferred. I had to provide copies of my wife's JP ID card as proof she lived there. 

 

Requested location change: Mid Nov. 2019 --> Feb. 21, 2020

Contacted my Reps (House, Senate): Feb. 5, 2020 - Rep contacted Guangzhou & Tokyo. 

Response 1: Feb. 11, 2020 - Guangzhou gave copy/paste info to my Rep's office.

Response 2: Feb. 18, 2020 - Tokyo Embassy - Requested transfer fm China - Case moved to Administrative Processing 

Response 3: Feb. 21, 2020 - Transfer complete; New interview scheduled.

 

Like others have said, emailing NVC will probably be the easiest. If your case gets approved and sent to the consulate you'll have to contact them. If it gets too frustrating (and it will) you can get your Reps involved. They should have staff dedicated to immigration issues. 

 

I hope you're able to get the case transferred w/o any problems. 

 

I hope this doesn't become the case with my fiancee's visa. It sounds like in your case, the packet had already been sent to the wrong embassy, correct? I'm hoping that since the packet is still with NVC right now, I can change it before it ever leaves, preventing a whole back and forth.

[Scott001 128]

33 minutes ago, Kaleb8082 said:

I hope this doesn't become the case with my fiancee's visa. It sounds like in your case, the packet had already been sent to the wrong embassy, correct? I'm hoping that since the packet is still with NVC right now, I can change it before it ever leaves, preventing a whole back and forth.

Yes and no. As soon as I noticed NVC assigned the case to the wrong place I began calling and emailing them. I was told I would have to contact Guangzhou to change it. Guangzhou said they couldn't do it and NVC would have to do. This went on and on. NVC kept saying they couldn't change it, I continued with the application and continued to call.

 

After the case was formally sent to Guangzhou, I started calling them again. Sometimes I was told to call Japan to request a transfer. Other times I was told to call NVC. When I called Japan they said I have to call Guangzhou. 

 

In the end, NVC was no help for us. The Tokyo embassy was the place that ultimately requested the transfer. So it seems the embassy/consulate you want to interview at has to request a transfer. Calling and emailing them with a local ID card would probably be enough.  

 

I don't know. Maybe I just had some bad luck with the people I talked to. 

[Kaleb8082 7]

UPDATE:

I contacted NVC via their email inquiry page. I sent a copy of the I-129f and my fiancee's passport. I explained that she was a student at the time in London but is now residing in and a citizen of China. About one week later, they emailed me back saying that the consulate location was changed and gave me my new NVC number. There was no back and forth. I did call once to verify that was the correct way to change the consulate location and was told that is was indeed correct and they couldn't do it over the phone. I hope this helps everyone who is in a similar situation.