What is the typical NVC processing time for immigrant visas?

The amount of time it takes the National Visa Center, or NVC, to process an immigrant visa hinges upon both the individual's responsiveness to requests for documentation and the priority date of the application. The priority date must be reached and all documentation submitted before the appointment is scheduled.

The appointment cannot be scheduled until an applicant's priority date arrives, as U.S. laws allow only a certain number of immigrant visas to be granted each year. It can take several years for an individual's priority date to arrive, so the overall time it takes to obtain a visa, in addition to the processing time required by the NVC, can be significant.