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EmailChange in Procedure for Transmission of Adoption Files from USCIS
September 5, 2007
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Citizenship
and Immigration Service (USCIS) recently instituted new procedures for the transmission of all approved immigrant visa petitions,
including I-600A and I-600 orphan petitions, from USCIS District Offices to U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.
Effective July 5, 2007, all approval notices, approved petitions, and accompanying documents, will be sent by mail from USCIS
District Offices to the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The NVC will, in turn,
forward the files by DHL to the appropriate U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad for visa processing.
USCIS will no longer fax or email Visas 37/38/39 or I-171-H approval notices directly to posts. In addition, the NVC will
not forward approval notices to posts electronically. Consular officers will only be able to process an adoption case to completion
once they have received the complete paper file from the NVC. It is therefore important that prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) confirm that the U.S. embassy or consulate has received
the file from NVC before making travel plans. PAPs will not be able to file their I-600 with embassies or consulates unless
the embassy or consulate for the country of origin has received the I-600A approval notice from NVC directly. USCIS may continue
to send I-600A approval notices to PAPs. However, any approval notice sent directly to PAPs will not be sufficient for embassies
or consulates to begin processing an I-600 for the child. The embassy or consulate must receive the USCIS approval notice
and complete file from NVC.
This new procedure has been implemented to ensure that all immigrant visa petitions are directed to the State Department’s
central immigrant visa processing facility (the NVC) as quickly as possible for onward transmission to posts. It is the first
step toward the development of a system for the electronic transfer of case files from USCIS to the NVC.
Questions concerning the location of an adoption file may be addressed to the U.S. Department of State’s Visa Office, the
NVC or U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad.
Visa Office Public Inquiries: (202) 663-1225 Email: USVisa@state.gov
National Visa Center Public Inquiries: (603) 334-0700 Email: nvcinquiry@state.gov
Contact information for U.S. embassies and consulates abroad may be found on the embassy or consulate’s homepage on the internet.
