Immigrant Visas

The Immigrant Visa (IV) unit will continue to prioritize cases for adopted children of U.S. citizens, cases in which an applicant would otherwise “age out” of a visa category, and certain emergency cases.  As conditions permit, we will also process a limited number of cases for spouses, fiancés, children, parents, and siblings of U.S. citizens and spouses and children of U.S. Legal Permanent Residents.  Emergency appointment requests for documentarily qualified cases are considered on a case-by-case basis and must be submitted together with supporting documentation, directly to the National Visa Center (NVC) for consideration.  NVC can be contacted at: https://nvc.state.gov/ask.

When your case is documentarily qualified, the National Visa Center (NVC) sends an email to notify you that the case is documentarily complete and pending scheduling at the Embassy.  Please make sure that the NVC has your most up-to-date contact information so they can communicate with you.  Cases are generally scheduled for interview in order of the date they became documentarily qualified.  Note, however, that due to limited capacity due to COVID-19 and the situation in Haiti, applicants should expect to experience delays in appointment availability.  You can log in to our Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) to check your status, receive messages, and manage your case.  More information on immigrant visa processing and case prioritization is available at  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas.html.

All U.S. immigrant visa applicants are required to complete a medical examination as part of the normal application process.  Please note that, a completed COVID-19 vaccine series is required as part of the U.S. immigrant visa medical examination.  More information can be found at: www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/panel-physicians/covid-19-technical-instructions.html .

Immigrant visas to the United States are processed for citizens and residents of Haiti at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

To apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen seeking to immigrate generally must be sponsored by a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident immediate relative(s), or prospective U.S. employer, and have an approved petition before applying for an immigrant visa. The sponsor begins the process by filing a petition on the foreign citizen’s behalf with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). You may wish to review our Directory of Visa Categories on usvisas.state.gov to learn about the different types of immigrant visas to the United States. Then, follow the steps on the Immigrant Visa Process, on usvisas.state.gov to begin applying for an immigrant visa.

Once USCIS has approved your petition and you have completed pre-processing with the National Visa Center (NVC), review the instructions given to you by the NVC, along with the information presented on this website, for further guidance and instructions.

Immigrant Visas