What Happens After I-824 Is Approved: NVC, DS-260, and Interview

When Form I-824 is approved, USCIS issues a Form I-797 approval notice and forwards your underlying petition file to the National Visa Center (NVC) so a consulate abroad can process the immigrant visa. From there, the case moves through fee payments, the DS-260 application, civil document uploads, an Affidavit of Support, a medical exam, and a consular interview. One deadline sits over the whole process: you have one year from NVC’s notice that a visa is available to apply, or the registration terminates.

The sequence below is what to expect after the I-824 is approved, in the order events actually happen.

The I-797 Approval Notice

USCIS confirms the approval by sending a Form I-797, Notice of Action.¹ By regulation, the notice goes to you directly, or to you and your attorney if you have representation.² If you filed online, the notice may appear as a digital notification in your USCIS account rather than in the mail.

The notice shows your receipt number, priority date, and the specific action USCIS is taking. Keep it. You will need it to track the case at every later step, and replacing it means filing another I-824 or requesting a duplicate, which adds months.

Case Transfer to the National Visa Center

USCIS forwards the file to the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which handles immigrant visa processing for the Department of State.³ The handoff is not instant. As of early 2026, NVC was creating cases roughly 11 days after receiving files from USCIS, and the total time from I-797 approval to a welcome letter can stretch to several weeks once transit is factored in.⁴ These figures move often, so check the current NVC timeframes page.

Once NVC creates the case, they send a welcome letter by email or mail. That letter contains the login information for the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC), where you will pay fees, submit forms, upload documents, and track status from that point on.³

If several weeks pass after your I-797 with no word from NVC, you can submit an inquiry through the NVC Public Inquiry Form online, using your NVC case number or USCIS receipt number, the principal applicant’s full name and date of birth as they appear on the passport, and the petitioner’s full name.⁵

Paying the Fees

The first thing NVC expects after the welcome letter is fee payment. Two processing fees are usually required before anything else moves:

Immigrant visa application processing fee: $325 per person for family-based cases based on an approved I-130, or $345 per person for employment-based cases based on an approved I-140.⁶
Affidavit of Support review fee: $120, though a small number of cases are exempt.⁷

Both fees are paid through CEAC using a U.S.-based bank routing and account number. The system processes them one at a time, not simultaneously. Allow about 10 calendar days after payment for the status to update, because the DS-260 application will not unlock until payments are reflected.⁷

Completing the DS-260

Once payment clears, every applicant in the case must complete Form DS-260, Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration, online through CEAC.⁸ The form asks for every residential address since age 16 and detailed employment history, so gather that information before starting. Discrepancies between what you enter here and what appears in your earlier USCIS filings are one of the most common reasons interviews get delayed.

Civil Documents and the Affidavit of Support

Alongside the DS-260, NVC needs original civil documents scanned and uploaded to CEAC:

Birth certificates: an original or certified copy for each person immigrating.
Marriage certificates: originals or certified copies for every marriage, not just the current one.
Police certificates: from every country where the applicant lived for more than six months after age 16.⁹

Documents not in English need a certified translation with the translator’s signature and a statement of competency. Each scanned file should be under 2 megabytes in JPG or PDF at 150 DPI, and multi-page documents belong in a single file rather than split across uploads. Zipped or password-protected files are rejected.¹⁰

The petitioner also files Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, showing the ability to support the immigrant at 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For 2026, that threshold starts at $27,050 per year for a two-person household in the 48 contiguous states, rising by $7,100 for each additional household member.¹¹ Active-duty military sponsors petitioning for a spouse or child need only meet 100 percent of the guidelines. The I-864 is a legally binding contract: the sponsor remains financially responsible until the immigrant becomes a U.S. citizen, earns 40 qualifying quarters of work, leaves the country permanently, or dies.

After everything is submitted, NVC runs a completeness review that can take several weeks. If a document is missing or illegible, NVC posts a notification in CEAC instead of advancing the case, so check the account regularly.

The Medical Examination

Before the consular interview, every applicant completes a medical exam with a physician authorized by the U.S. Embassy in their country. The exam covers a physical evaluation, medical history, blood and urine tests, a chest X-ray for applicants 15 and older, and any missing vaccinations on the required list.

The vaccination list is extensive and age-dependent, covering measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis A and B, varicella, tetanus, and others.¹² Bring your vaccination records to the appointment; that saves time and avoids duplicate doses. Costs vary widely by country, generally a few hundred dollars for the exam itself plus additional charges for missing vaccines or follow-up testing. Most health insurance does not cover immigration medical exams. The embassy in your country provides the panel physician list and fee schedule.

The Consular Interview and Visa Issuance

When NVC confirms documentation is complete, they schedule an interview at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that covers where the applicant lives. Bring original paper copies of every document you uploaded, because the consular officer will compare the originals against what was filed.¹³ Any inconsistency between what is filed and what is presented triggers additional scrutiny.

The officer asks questions to verify the underlying petition. Family-based cases draw questions about the relationship; employment-based cases draw questions about the job offer. On approval, the officer keeps the passport, inserts the visa foil, and returns it through a courier service, usually within a few business days.

After the visa is issued and before traveling to the United States, the applicant pays the USCIS Immigrant Fee of $235 online through the USCIS Electronic Immigration System.¹⁴ The green card is not produced until this fee is paid. Orphan and Hague adoption cases, Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants, and K visa holders are among the exempt categories.

The One-Year Deadline That Can End the Case

This is the step that catches people out. Under federal law, if the applicant fails to apply for the immigrant visa within one year after NVC notifies them that a visa is available, the entire registration terminates.¹⁵ The work put into the I-824, the fees, and all the NVC processing can be lost by going silent too long.

Reinstatement is possible if you can show the failure was due to circumstances beyond your control, but you have only two years from the original notification to make that case.¹⁵ The implementing regulation says the same: within one year of notification, the applicant must apply, or the registration ends.¹⁶ Respond to NVC communications, pay fees, and submit documents inside that window. The clock does not pause while you gather paperwork.

If the I-824 Was for a Spouse or Child to Follow

A common reason to file Form I-824 is to bring a spouse or child to the United States after the principal applicant has already adjusted status inside the country. This is “follow-to-join.” It applies when the principal became a lawful permanent resident through an approved I-485 based on a family preference, employment-based, religious worker, VAWA, or diversity visa case.¹⁷

Here, the approved I-824 tells USCIS to notify NVC that the principal’s status was granted, so the spouse or children abroad can pursue their own immigrant visas through consular processing. Approval opens the door; it does not guarantee the family member’s visa.

Some situations do not use this route. If the principal entered on an immigrant visa through consular processing rather than adjusting inside the U.S., follow-to-join goes directly through NVC without an I-824. Refugees and asylees use Form I-730 instead. And if the principal gained status through a T or U visa, the I-824 follow-to-join process does not apply.¹⁷

If a Child Is Approaching 21

Cases involving a child close to 21 turn on the Child Status Protection Act. Under CSPA, a child in a family-based or employment-based preference category must “seek to acquire” lawful permanent residence within one year of when a visa becomes available to preserve age-out protection.¹⁸

Filing Form I-824 on the child’s behalf counts toward satisfying the “sought to acquire” requirement. This matters because preference categories often have years-long backlogs, and a child who turns 21 during the wait can lose eligibility if CSPA protection is not preserved. Immediate relatives are not subject to the one-year rule, but for everyone else the clock runs for one continuous year from the date the visa becomes available.¹⁸

When the Approval Is Only a Duplicate Notice

Not every I-824 approval starts consular processing. If the I-824 was filed to replace a lost or damaged approval notice, USCIS issues a duplicate I-797 that carries the same legal weight as the original.¹⁷ The Department of State is not involved. The case stays inside USCIS, and the petitioner uses the replacement notice for domestic purposes, such as supporting an adjustment of status application or responding to a request for evidence on another filing.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797: Types and Functions
2
eCFR. 8 CFR 103.2 – Submission and Adjudication of Benefit Requests
3
U.S. Department of State. NVC Processing
4
U.S. Department of State. NVC Timeframes
5
Department of State. Public Inquiry Form
6
U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
7
U.S. Department of State. Pay Fees
8
U.S. Department of State. Step 6: Complete Online Visa Application (DS-260)
9
U.S. Department of State. Step 7: Collect Civil Documents
10
U.S. Department of State. Scanning and Uploading Tips
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864P, HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support
12
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccination Technical Instructions for Civil Surgeons
13
U.S. Department of State. Civil Documents FAQs
14
USCIS Immigrant Fee. USCIS Immigrant Fee
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
16
eCFR. 22 CFR 42.83 – Termination of Registration
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Form I-824, Instructions for Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 7 – Child Status Protection Act