DOS Will Now Require Proof of Residence from Green Card Applicants

As discussed in an MU blog post last month, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that, effective November 1, 2025, the National Visa Center (NVC) will only schedule immigrant visa (Green Card) interviews in an applicant’s country of residence or, if requested, country of nationality.

Related to the new policy, late last week, many Green Card applicants began receiving notices from DOS requesting proof of their residence.

The notices also explain that applicants may interview outside their country of residence and/or nationality only if experiencing special circumstances, which must be communicated to the NVC in specific terms before an interview can be scheduled. The DOS notices clarify that traveling to or residing temporarily in a third country in order to apply for a U.S. visa does not constitute a special circumstance.

Finally, although the notices request proof of residency, the notices indicate that applicants who interview outside their country of nationality may experience delayed visa processing.

MU is continuing to monitor DOS processes and trends related to its interview policy. If you have questions about your Green Card interview location or the evidence required by DOS, contact your MU legal team for assistance.

Green Card Interviews to be Scheduled in Country of Residence

The U.S. Department of State has announced that, effective November 1, 2025, the National Visa Center (NVC) will only schedule immigrant visa (Green Card) interviews in an applicant’s country of residence or, if requested, country of nationality.

Existing immigrant visa appointments scheduled through the NVC will generally remain in place and will not be automatically canceled or rescheduled based on this new policy.

If you have questions about your Green Card interview location, contact your MU legal team for assistance.

Department of State Launches IV Scheduling Status Tool

On April 29, 2025, the Department of State launched the Immigrant Visa (IV) Scheduling Status Tool, which will provide greater transparency for Green Card applicants who are currently delayed from entering the US while awaiting their Green Card interview abroad.

Updated monthly, the IV Scheduling Status Tool provides information by post and visa category indicating the month and year in which recently scheduled cases became documentarily complete.

The date a case becomes “documentarily complete” is date that NVC determines an applicant has paid the necessary fees and submitted all required documents.

The IV Tool is available for applicants in all employment-based Green Card categories, including Registered Nurses and other healthcare workers.

CEAC MALFUNCTIONS CAUSE DELAYS TO CONSULAR CASES

The Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) is the online platform where one submits fees, forms, and documents to the National Visa Center (NVC). In the last two months, MU has observed two primary malfunctions on CEAC. Please note, these malfunctions are seemingly random and do not affect every case.

The most prominent malfunction prevents the payment of IV fee bills, causing delays for many cases. This malfunction causes CEAC to reject fee bill payments or causes payments to be “in process” for long periods of time.

MU has submitted inquiries to the NVC about the payment malfunction, requesting a solution. In reply, the NVC stated it is working to correct the malfunction. The NVC provided no estimate for when it would fix this malfunction.

The second malfunction mislabels dependents as Follow-to-Join instead of Accompanying, and vice versa. This prevents the completion of case, even if fee bills have already been paid.

MU has submitted inquiries to the NVC about these and other malfunctions but has yet to receive a response. MU is working to resolve these issues through other contacts and hopes the NVC will act soon to move the cases forward.  If you have questions about your specific case, please contact your MU attorney.

NVC SUSPENDS ITS TELEPHONE INQUIRY LINE

The National Visa Center (NVC) has announced that it is suspending its telephone inquiry line effective May 23, 2022. The move comes as an attempt to address a backlog of inquiry requests at the NVC.

The NVC is facing “critical backlogs” of inquiry requests, and current response times to inquiries are approximately 2 months. The NVC will still accept inquiry requests for immigrant cases using its online form, but asks that follow-up inquiries not be made while the first inquiry is still within the NVC’s reported response timeframe.

The NVC has not yet announced when it expects to resume accepting inquiry requests via telephone.

UPDATED EXPEDITED IV CRITERIA FOR HEALTHCARE WORKERS

The Department has just updated their guidance on emergency IV appointments for healthcare workers.  U.S. embassies and consulates now may prioritize as emergencies immigrant visa cases of healthcare professionals who will work at a facility engaged in pandemic response.  Healthcare professionals should review the website of the relevant U.S. embassy or consulate for procedures to request an emergency visa appointment.

If the case is being processed at the National Visa Center (NVC), the applicant may request expedited processing by emailing NVCExpedite@state.gov, including the case or receipt number on the subject line, along with at least one of the following: (1) petitioner’s name and date of birth, (2) beneficiary’s name and date of birth, and/or (3) invoice ID number.