I-140 EB2 NIW approved March 2022, but petition was not sent to NVC. Any options?

[Leeching Spouse 87]

My friend's I-140 petition through EB2 NIW has been approved since March 2022. She indicated that "Alien will apply for a visa abroad at a U.S. Embassy or consulate, Montreal, Canada" in the Part 4, Box 1, Section on the I-140 form, but USCIS did not automatically forwarded the approved I-140 to NVC. It has been 120 days.

She filed a service request with USCIS and received the following response:

Quote

We have received your service request and researched the status of your case. Our records indicate that on your case was approved. However, the approved petition and accompanying information was not sent to the National Visa Center (NVC). If the person, for whom you are petitioning, decides to apply for a visa outside the United States based on this petition, the petitioner must file Form I-824, Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition, to request that we send the petition to the Department of State NVC. The NVC processes all approved immigrant visa petitions that require consular action.  The NVC also determines which consular post is the appropriate consulate to complete visa processing.  It will then forward the approved petition to that consulate.

 

She has raised a Service Request with CIS Ombudsman, which can take up to 30 days to respond, but is there anything else that can be done in the interim to speed up the process? Should she just pay the $465 fee and get it done with, even though it is an error on USCIS' part?

[Chancy 6,241]

17 hours ago, CanadianMD said:

USCIS did not automatically forwarded the approved I-140 to NVC.

 

Check the thread below --

 

 

[Leeching Spouse 87]

4 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Check the thread below --

 

 

Thank you so much. I'll try that thread