National Visa Center

The National Visa Center (NVC) is a center that is part of the U.S. Department of State that plays the role of holding United States immigrant visa petitions (as well as Form I-129F petitions for K-1/K-3 visas) approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services until an immigrant visa number becomes available for the petition, at which point it arranges for the visa applicant(s) (the petition beneficiaries) to take the visa interview at a consulate abroad.[1][2] It is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[1] It was established on July 26, 1994, on the site of an Air Force base that was closed down by The Pentagon.[3]

In most cases, the person or entity that files the original USCIS petition (also known as the petitioner) differs from the person (or persons) on whose behalf the petition is filed (also known as the beneficiary or beneficiaries). The beneficiaries are the persons who may subsequently apply for a visa based on the approved petition, and NVC's communication is with the beneficiary (with the petitioner getting a notification at the beginning). In this article, the terms "beneficiary" and "visa applicant" are both used based on context.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference travel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "The Immigrant Visa Process: Begin National Visa Center (NVC) Processing". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  3. ^ "Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of National Visa Center". National Visa Center. July 26, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2021.