How do I file a complaint about NVC

[JeanneAdil 6,322]

16 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

Op posted entered US in June

and was told "welcome to US by CBC officer"

 

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Posted June 12

Hi~ I guess you can try, the worst that can happen is they tell you to go to your line ~ But the whole process is really not that scary. In my situation i waited around 15 minutes in visitor line. Then said hello to the officer, gave him my passport and visa documents. After biometrics and pic taken i was asked to follow other officer to some room (secondary, keep in mind phones are not allowed to use while in there). I sat there for about 15 min. Officer then called my name, handed me passport, smiled and said “welcome to the usa” That’s it. My point of entry is JFK airpot~

sorry wifi went out

i meant to add this K1 poster could well advise the OP what he just experienced with the entire process to actually get here to marry

[Crazy Cat 40,128]

No one is as blind as he who refuses to see....... @vibrantone 

[TBoneTX 43,603]

Vibrantone:

 

1.  Please create a VJ timeline.

2.  The consulate for K-1 (and CR-1) visa interviews is in Ciudad Juarez, not Mexico City.

3.  Every response to you is correct.  For I-129F/K-1, the NVC is merely a "whistle-stop" for the petition.

 

4.  Your success throughout this immigration process depends on your reading accurately, interpreting literally, and responding completely & accurately.  Become an "A" student of every step of this journey, or you risk hampering or outright hosing your situation.  It's clear that some intense up-catching is urgently necessary.  Members here who are willing to help you (as opposed to stating the obvious and leading you by the nose) will appreciate it.  It's in this way that the forum will prove most valuable to you.

[Sam Burns 116]

3 hours ago, Loren Y said:

The NVC does sometimes send what they all a welcome letter via email with your case number, most people never get it ( I didn't) I had to do the call on the phone late at night right before the NVC call center closed to get my case and invoice number. I have seen people get the email he is taking about, but your better off deleting it, because honestly your better off without it.

Like others have said, follow the CEAC case tracker to keep up on your visa status, but until it says at the consulate, and then the status changes to "Ready" there is not much to do.

I will throw in the fact that I successfully completed my wifes K1 process without uploading anything to the NVC, so I agree with all the other posters, you do not upload anything to NVC with a K1.

 

I got a “welcome” letter with the WAC number iirc

[Calicolom 265]

5 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

see a immigration lawyer

Yea, The boarder is open.

[dwheels76 5,465]

42 minutes ago, Sam Burns said:

I got a “welcome” letter with the WAC number iirc

That's not NVC. WAC California Service Center and that's USCIS.

[dwheels76 5,465]

2 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Vibrantone:

 

1.  Please create a VJ timeline.

2.  The consulate for K-1 (and CR-1) visa interviews is in Ciudad Juarez, not Mexico City.

3.  Every response to you is correct.  For I-129F/K-1, the NVC is merely a "whistle-stop" for the petition.

 

4.  Your success throughout this immigration process depends on your reading accurately, interpreting literally, and responding completely & accurately.  Become an "A" student of every step of this journey, or you risk hampering or outright hosing your situation.  It's clear that some intense up-catching is urgently necessary.  Members here who are willing to help you (as opposed to stating the obvious and leading you by the nose) will appreciate it.  It's in this way that the forum will prove most valuable to you.

Thank you TBoneTX I was so confused seeing Mexico City like ummm not open to K1's.

 

Well OP you can sit here and argue the point or find out what you need to do by going through the steps. NVC has given you any and all that they will give you. There's nothing to sue them over. You could be completing your DS-160 paying you Visa fee then that will allow you to access the calendar to schedule your interview. Time is really ticking the sooner you get in there the sooner you can find a date

[little immigrant 800]

File a complaint here 

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html?wcmmode=disabled

[JeanneAdil 6,322]

1 hour ago, Sam Burns said:

I got a “welcome” letter with the WAC number iirc

just looked at all of my receipts and no welcome letter 

 

just receipt and it says "this notice does not grant any immigration status or benefit.  It is not even evidence that this case is still pending . it only shows that the application or petition has been filed on the date shown."

 

that's hardly a welcome

 

the real welcome is the phamplet that embassy SHOULD give out (some are bad to do this)   when they approve the visa especially since there is info in there reguarding SS # and selective service registering ,  your rights and responsibilities as intending immigrant

this is what u really need 

[JeanneAdil 6,322]

BTW

OP didn't like the responses 

he  joined 17 hours ago posted and then left the site 11 hours ago

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by JeanneAdil

[Adventine 3,187]

@JeanneAdil it's a shame but I kind of get it. Imagine being so upset about the delays that you want to file an official complaint, only to find out that you misunderstood the process and there's really no reason to complain. Some people have a hard time handling that kind of burst your bubble moment.

[mitzab 285]

19 hours ago, vibrantone said:

Filed i129 in 2021 feb... approved.. fev 2022  NVC has never sent a welcome letter with the receipt number to upload documents. I have sent several emails and they  have given me a case number but I cannot track it .. or upload documents or anything.  The only thing NVC sent me in June was that the consulate in Mexico city was closed... which is not true either.  Numerous emails but they reply with a timeline of 30 days.  Its ridiculous...

 

 

This is where you can file a complaint

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/Intercountry-Adoption/about-adoption-service-providers/hague-complaint-registry.html

[WeekendPizzaiolo 47]

Give the OP a break. I very much understand their confusion! The process is not user friendly in the slightest, especially to most people who are not familiar with immigration law. I think many of those who applied for a IR-1/CR-1 may never be carefully examined the USCIS case status given to an I-129F petitioner after receiving their I-129F NOA2 in the mail.

 

I saved away my CEAC case status in my archives after my I129-F NOA2. It appears as follows.

 

 

It seems State is repurposing software tools used for IR-1/CR-1 for K-1s. At different stages, the title of this status window changed between "IMMIGRANT VISA APPLICATION" and "NONIMMIGRANT VISA APPLICATION", and changed back -- why? If you click on the links provided in the NOA2 case status (http://nvc.state.gov), the website gives you instructions for IR-1/CR-1 visas for uploading documents to CEAC and paying your invoice, two things that do not apply to K-1s. This is not user friendly!

 

It is reasonable for the cautious among us (e.g. those who pay our bills as soon as we receive them) to assume that the words for their case status have been carefully crafted for K-1s, but the words are not carefully chosen for K-1s. Some cautious individuals might try to find the invoice number (it is referenced in their case status after all) under the false belief that there is an outstanding payment that is due when there is no payment due for K-1s in CEAC. The invoice number for I-129F petitioners even exists, but once you receive it from the NVC call center, you cannot pay it using CEAC nor can a K-1 petitioner log into their CEAC. Again, State is using software designed for IR-1/CR-1 to keep track of K-1s but not using the invoice and document upload features. If State spent a few hours carefully crafting a status message for K-1s (including not mentioning the term invoice numbers nor providing links to instructions for IR-1/CR-1), this confusion among thousands of yearly K-1 applicants could be eliminated!

 

The lack of user friendliness continues in later stages of the process including:

• contradictory e-mails from the consulate (you may pay your IRV fee in-person on interview day, you may not pay your IRV fee on interview day). We paid at the consulate on interview day.
• an e-mail from the NVC that your interview has been scheduled and then an e-mail from the embassy saying to disregard this e-mail from the NVC as no interview has been scheduled and then admonishing the applicant to wait for the consulate's scheduling e-mail
• contradictory in-person instructions at the embassy (The consular website charged us 3x for our courier service. The cashier told us to buy a postage paid MEDIUM envelope because our courier payment could not be found in the system,  the CO called us to tell us to come back with a postage paid LARGE envelope because the MEDIUM envelope is too small, and then there was a security guard who refused to accept our LARGE envelope).
• consular variances in state department policy (For example, US consulate in Montreal requires vaccinations to be up-to-date to schedule an interview, but that information is not in the State Department instructions)
• e-mails with instructions to click here for my Loomis tracking number even though CanadaPost was used, and
• an immigrant visa control sticker on my financé's passport when we finally received the K-1 from the embassy.

In terms of terrible user friendliness, I literally have never seen anything like it! The whole end-to-end K-1 process was as if someone disobeyed all the best practices for user friendliness over and over again. No one regularly reviews form e-mails and status messages for clarity. There are no surveys about how the process went and what was confusing. Even if human error on part of the applicant is to blame, a survey or user study may help identify common patterns of confusion to eliminate such human error. A more user friendly system would reduce costs as there would be fewer e-mails and phone calls asking for clarification.

 

My advice to the OP would be to expect that confusing communications & status messages and do not expect anyone to care about improving the user experience of interactive websites. My rule of thumb is that interactive forms or automated e-mails can give dubious information but static published instructions are usually pretty accurate. Official PDF instructions (say I-129F or I-485 instructions) that are current (see expiration date at the bottom of the instructions) are accurate but laborious to read - please read them! If one highlights instructions that do not apply to them in a separate color (say pink), then it becomes easier to flip through the instructions. VisaJourney is an invaluable resource for helping understand the idiosyncrasies of how K-1s are processed at each consular post. Please follow posts for the consular post in which you are applying as the consular norms can and do change occasionally (https://www.visajourney.com/portals/index.php?auto=1).

 

Best of luck to you!

 

 

[JeanneAdil 6,322]

52 minutes ago, Adventine said:

@JeanneAdil it's a shame but I kind of get it. Imagine being so upset about the delays that you want to file an official complaint, only to find out that you misunderstood the process and there's really no reason to complain. Some people have a hard time handling that kind of burst your bubble moment.

i get it too but i think we all tried to show him the official sites to state the case 

if he doesn't believe us ,   then a lawyer consultation fee may be what he needs

 

people gotta keep their cool when talking about immigration  and its not easy but "don't upset the apple cart"

and when someone tries to help,  listen 

we could be wrong (i have been when i got on here late at night and saw I 130 and didn't see person posted under AOS) 

i am a big girl if i am wrong , tell me 

but i went K1 then CR1 (2 times)  

the process has changed a bit with online filing but steps are about the same with a lot less paperwork at petition stage

[SusieQQQ 11,585]

20 hours ago, vibrantone said:

Thank you for your preply but its not accurate.   They send me the new case number k1 with a ID number needed to log into CEAC to upload documents, that they inspect and when that is complete.. send to the consulate.. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition/step-2-begin-nvc-processing.html

 

You cannot track anything CEAC without that code.  https://ceac.state.gov/iv/login.aspx

 

 

ep 3: Pay Fees

 

The first thing you need to do after receiving your NVC Welcome Letter is pay your processing fees. There are two processing fees:

1. Immigrant Visa Application Processing Fee
2. Affidavit of Support Fee.

You will need a bank routing number and a checking or savings account number from a U.S. based bank. 

To pay your fee, log into your case in CEAC and click the ‘PAY NOW’ button under Affidavit of Support Fee or IV Fee on your summary page.

 

14 hours ago, vibrantone said:

I actually have posted actual resources from the NVC and CEAC websites, those are facts.  I appreciate you are so lucky you can get through your process with alternative facts.  Your very blessed.  However, the question was how to complain when NVC does not follow its own rules.

The issue here is that all the stuff you are posting above is for immigrant visas. An immigrant visa is something that gives you green card holder status the minute the visa is stamped on entry. Therefore, despite the fact that K1 might feel like an immigrant visa because of your intent, a K1 is actually technically a non immigrant visa, and none of the immigrant visa process linked above applies to it.