Immigrant Visa Information
On this page:
- Overview
- Petitions
- USCIS Immigrant Fee
- Exceptional Filing
- Medical Requirements
- U.S. Embassy Appointment
Overview
In general, a person who wishes to immigrate to the United States must have a petition approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before applying for an immigrant visa. The petition is filed either by a qualified relative or a potential employer at a USCIS office in the United States. Specific information about filing immigrant petitions is available on the USCIS website. An individual with an approved petition and a priority date that is current for processing (when applicable) is eligible to apply for an immigrant visa or K (fiancé(e) nonimmigrant visa.
Petitions
Petitioners residing in the consular district (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) must file the I-130 petition directly with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the United States.
U.S. citizens and current permanent residents wanting to petition for immigrant classification for their parent, spouse, or minor child must file an I-130 petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Select here to determine the correct filing location for a family based petition.
For additional information about how to file a Form I-130 with the USCIS Chicago lockbox, please visit the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov or contact USCIS by telephone in the U.S. at 1-800-375-5283.
USCIS Immigrant Fee
If you are immigrating to the United States as a lawful permanent resident, you must pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee online unless you meet one of the exemptions. This fee is not related to the immigrant visa application fees collected by Department of State.
Select USCIS Immigrant Fee to go to the USCIS Website to learn more.
Exceptional Filing
U.S. citizen petitioners who believe their situation merits an exception may request the Consular Section to accept the filing of I-130 petition. Each request will be evaluated individually.
A petitioner seeking to file a Form I-130 should contact the Consular Section to request consideration for exception and explain the circumstances in detail. Proof of exceptional circumstances should be provided along with a signed statement from the U.S. citizen petitioner and a copy of a valid U.S. passport. The determination of whether the case presents exceptional circumstances which warrant an exception to the general filing process will be made by a consular officer. Please visit USCIS website for guidance on the circumstances that may qualify as exceptional.
Medical Requirements
All applicants must undergo a medical exam by an Embassy-approved Panel Physician. Information about the medical exam can be found here. The applicants will receive instructions about how to schedule an appointment for their medical exam from NVC or the Embassy. Do not try to make an appointment before receiving these instructions.
U.S. Embassy Appointment
You may choose to keep your existing appointment set by NVC or reschedule that interview appointment by accessing this link. Please note that rescheduling an existing appointment will result in significant delays, and we cannot accommodate specific date/time requests.
The first step of the interview rescheduling process will involve submitting a request for rescheduling through your profile. This step is completed when the system prompts you with the message “Your request to schedule an appointment has been received and will be reviewed”. If you do not receive this message, your request has not been successfully submitted. Submitting a request to reschedule will place you in our rescheduling queue.
Once we have opened appointments for rescheduling, your request will be approved and you will be notified via email to log back into your profile to access the calendar and choose an appointment date and time. Your request to reschedule will remain in the queue if we cannot offer appointments to reschedule.
Please read about security restrictions at the U.S. Embassy’s website that describes which items are prohibited. You should bring your appointment letter and the documents required for your visa class.