NVC: fees and forms
Pay the visa fee and complete the DS-260 immigrant visa application on CEAC.
Not legal advice
This roadmap is general information to help you organize your own preparation. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Rules differ by consulate and change over time - always confirm against the official travel.state.gov, ceac.state.gov and uscis.gov guidance for your case.
Pay the NVC visa fee
Visa fee of $345 per family member, paid as a single combined payment.
7-10 days to clearPay $345 per person in ONE payment for the whole family - do not split it. NVC fees can ONLY be paid by electronic check (ACH) from a US bank account - credit and debit cards are NOT accepted; you need the bank's routing number and account number. The payment clears in 7-10 days. Log in to CEAC with your case number (login) and invoice ID (password) from the NVC email.
Research and learn
Fees
- $345NVC immigrant visa fee / per person
- Do not manually sum the invoices - if the system totals them, leave it. If pasting the case number / invoice ID errors out, check for a trailing space copied from the email.
Screenshots from the roadmap
My notes
savedSubmit the DS-260
The online immigrant visa application, one per family member.
4-8 hoursFill the DS-260 on CEAC. The form times out, so press Save at the bottom often. If a required field blocks saving, type "temp" and finish it later. Prepare all answers in a spreadsheet first, then copy-paste. For everyone, list the preparer as SELF. For the vaccination question you may write: "I am in the process of reviewing vaccination records and will obtain the required vaccinations on or before the date of the medical exam." Save the barcode page for every family member - you need it for the document package and the medical exam.
To do (0/4)
Research and learn
- Keep job descriptions simple and truthful - overly detailed "red-flag" wording invites extra screening. Filing DS-260 declares immigrant intent, which can later cause a tourist/work-visa refusal.
- CEAC is flaky - when it asks, enter your real passport number and surname (not "NA"), and do not rely on third-party tracker apps that can silently miss a status change.
- After you submit DS-260, save the confirmation page with the barcode for every applicant - you will be asked for it at the interview.
- Keep your DS-260 wording consistent with your other forms and documents - dates, employers and job titles must match. Mismatches between the form and what you say at the interview are read as grounds for refusal.
Common questions
After I submit the DS-260, is the interview scheduled right away?
No. There is no separate "forms accepted" letter - you just track progress in CEAC. After the DS-260 the NVC still collects and checks your civil-document package, qualifies it, and only then forwards the case to the consulate, which assigns the interview date. The waiting periods are not fixed. You can gather the standard documents (birth certificate, police certificates from every country you lived in) now, before they are requested.
Why does saving fail on a required field I cannot answer yet?
CEAC blocks saving on empty required fields. As a workaround you can type "temp" to get past it and save, then come back and put the correct answer before you finally submit.
Should I really list social-media accounts I never use?
Yes. List every platform where you have an account, even dormant ones. Answering "no" and then having an account surface is a known trigger for administrative processing; it is easier to list them than to explain the gap later.
Screenshots from the roadmap
My notes
saved