Consular Processing

Background

Consular processing is generally utilized when the applicant is outside of the United States, ineligible for adjustment of status, or when the applicant prefers processing at the American consulate in their county for either strategic or convenience reasons.

Procedure

Consular processing will involve you having contact with two different governmental entities: the National Visa Center (NVC) and the overseas consulate.

You will need to have an approved Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative or Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. These documents will be forwarded to the National Visa Center who will perform all pre-interview tasks. The National Visa Center will send you or our law firm your immigrant visa fee bill and affidavit of support fee bill.

Once these fees have been paid, the National Visa Center will send a packet of forms and instructions which will include the DS-260, Immigrant Visa Electronic Application and the I-864, Affidavit of Support. All forms and required documentation must be complete and sent to the National Visa Center. Once the case is complete, the National Visa Center will forward your file to the appropriate consular post and an appointment letter will be generated. This appointment letter will include the date that you will have to appear at the consulate and instructions for the medical exam.

At the interview the consular officer will finish processing your case and decide if you are eligible for an immigrant visa. The officer does have discretion to deny your visa so it is important to answer all of his or her questions and bring all of the required documents requested from you to your interview. Our law firm will give you a checklist of required documents as well as prepare you for your interview. We want it to go as smoothly as possible so we can get you back to the United States.

Once your visa is granted, the officer will give you a “Visa Packet” that contains information for the Customs and Border Protection officer that you will encounter at the port of entry. You should not open this packet. If the officer finds that you are admissible into the United States you will be admitted as a permanent resident. You will receive your green card in the mail. The green card can take anywhere between 2 to 8 weeks to arrive. Our law firm will continually check on the status of your green card to make sure it arrives.

Eligibility

You will need to be the beneficiary of an approved visa petition which grants family or employment-based classification. You can also be a derivative of a family member who has an approved visa petition such as the spouse or unmarried minor child of the beneficiary.

For family petitions, you can qualify as an immediate relative or preference classification for non-immediate relatives.

Immediate relatives of United States citizens include:

• Spouses of United States citizens;
• Unmarried minor children under 21-years-old; and
• Parents of United States citizens, if the United States citizen is over 21-years-old.

The preference categories for Non-Immediate Relatives include:

• 1^st Preference: Unmarried children of United States citizens;
• 2^nd Preference: (a) Spouses and children of United States citizens and (b) Unmarried children of United States citizens;
• 3^rd Preference: Married children of United States citizens; and
• 4^th Preference: Children of adult United States citizens.

The categories may be confusing so it is essential to call our law office to receive a consultation on where you may fall in the list.

Benefits

If you are able to consular process it may sometimes be better than the adjustment of status process because consular processing cases are typically much faster. Consular processing can average between 4-14 months as opposed to 1 to 2 years to obtain a green card through adjustment of status.

What the Law Office of Armand Jawanmardi Can Do for You

Consular processing cases can get complex which makes it important to have an attorney who has experience in helping you win these types of cases.

You need and deserve a law firm and an attorney who will stand by your side when going through consular processing. We want to have the honor of representing you. Please contact The Law Office of Armand Jawanmardi for a consultation on what you can expect when applying through consular processing and what we can do for you at (713) 999-9115. We are always available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer your questions.