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Civil documents via the NVC or at the embassy?

Key answer

The standard route is to upload civil documents to the NVC and wait for DQ; you handle the NVC correspondence yourself from your own email, the attorney only advises. But there are exceptions: one member was allowed to bring documents to the interview and pay fees right at the embassy, while another found that the embassy had only the civil documents from the NVC and the consul requested the whole petition by email. Bringing the case itself is not required - nobody reads it during a ten-minute interview.

Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

  • I had an interesting experience overall: I didn't send my civil documents to the NVC, but brought them with me to the interview, and I paid the fees at the embassy. They informed me about this in advance.

  • I have an EB-1, and I too have been in administrative review for over a year. The embassy did not have my case at all - just the civil documents from the NVC. As a result, the consul requested my entire case via email, and now I'm waiting. So, there is complete chaos in the embassies as well.

  • Everything is standard for us and an acquaintance (Kazakhstan and Warsaw): through the NVC, through DQ. What does the attorney have to do with it - their task is to get approval from USCIS; attorneys even have a memo on what to do after approval. Neither the attorney nor helpers communicate with the NVC: they can advise on the questionnaire's sections, but you write everything from your email and in your name.

  • The case itself is not required at the interview - they should see it, ideally. And whatever you bring does not really matter: they won't read it in ten minutes of the interview. They asked standard questions - which means something must have greatly troubled the officer.

  • I know that DV winners paid the fee on the spot. I saw this myself when I had my interview, and my acquaintance also paid it on the spot with cash. Apparently, it can be done either way.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Sources

All questions on: Consulate and interviewAll questions on: Process and timelinesAll questions on: Green card

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A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.

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