The second government agency involved in the immigration process is the National Visa Center (NVC). The purpose of this agency seems to be to collect money as inefficiently as possible. The Immigration and Naturalization Service sent our paperwork to the NVC in August 2004, it arrived in October 2004. By pony express obviously! At this point we started the actual process of getting the visa. A call to the NVC gathered the information that everything should take from two weeks to 45 days. Unfortunately, things didnt work out that way. Heres what the process is really like. First, the NVC sent us a letter for my wife to sign making me her agent. This took from October to December. She signed the form and we sent it back. Several weeks later we received a request for $65.00. This was the fee for the I-864 Statement of Support. We sent the required amount of money via money order. Approximately six weeks later we received the I-864. After receiving the I-864 we filled it out and returned it to the NVC. About six weeks or so later we received a request for $335.00. This fee was required to process the actual visa application. At this time we were informed that my wife would need a Mexican passport with at least eight months remaining. By now wed figured these people out and ordered a five year passport from the Mexican government. After sending in this latest fee bill, we waited almost eight weeks before the DS-230 arrived. We filled out this form and sent part one back. You have to keep part two for later. Finally after over seven months, our paperwork was sent to the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez. Not everything at the NVC is bad. They were much more responsive than the Immigration and Naturalization people. In fact, they have a number you can call and get the status of your paperwork. That number is: (603 334-0700). You can visit their website at http://www.state.gov Now that our paperwork was at the US Consulate the waiting was over, or was it |
