A case was created for me on the same date that USCIS approved the EB-1 petition. What does that even mean? Has anyone encountered this?
I think it’s just a technicality. The case opening is dated the day you request the expedited interview and it’s approved — at least that’s how it was for me with premium processing. They basically just check that there’s a photo, all fields are filled, and the documents are in place. There’s nothing to worry about.
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Got it, thanks. How long after opening the case did you get an interview?
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From opening the case to the interview it took me about 10–11 months — I filed an EB-1A without premium processing. From the very start of working on the petition to the interview it was 13 months in total. From the stories I read, that’s a typical timeline; with active work on the case you can realistically shorten it.
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We got approval through premium processing in 3 weeks — fast. But that’s only the petition; next is the NVC (National Visa Center) with its own queue. Documents are processed separately and cross-checked against the Visa Bulletin by filing date. I’ve heard that with consular processing it takes about another year from approval to the embassy interview — I looked at various cases, and many people report the same. That’s important to consider if you’re applying from outside the country.
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adjustment of status — это совсем другая история: там в принципе нет посольского интервью. Я сам проходил консульскую обработку в Польше, поэтому мои 10–11 месяцев — это именно ожидание слота в посольстве. У тех, кто подаёт I-485 изнутри страны, другая последовательность: биометрика, потом интервью в полевом офисе или иногда вообще никакого интервью.
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The retrogression queue at the embassy is a whole other story, by the way. NVC is processing the case, the category is current according to the visa bulletin — but they don’t schedule the interview because of the retrogression-based system for allocating slots. The Ankara consulate works exactly like that — a person can wait for months with a formally “current” status. So on top of the standard 10–11 months of waiting there’s this extra pause.
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There’s one more point with consular processing — USCIS sometimes makes a mistake and issues an I-797 for a change of status even though the petition indicates consular processing. In that case you need to file an I-824 to switch the case to the correct track. That adds time to the wait — until the I-824 is processed and the NVC receives the case. The NVC can also stay silent and not send a confirmation of receipt for weeks — that happened to me; I had to call myself to make sure the packet had arrived.
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I read about a case like this — an EB-1A approval via premium processing came through, but there were no updates from the NVC for a month and a half. They emailed the premium processing address asking why the case hadn’t been transferred — and in reply the status changed to REOPENED. It’s been stuck in that status for the second week now. So NVC silence isn’t the worst thing — sometimes asking about the status only makes it worse.
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Regarding the I-485 interview — it’s pretty situational. Every officer and case is unique; you can’t know in advance exactly which questions will be asked. There isn’t any single approved list. Some people are asked 5–6 questions; others are kept for a whole hour while they flip through the entire file. In my EB-1 case, they pulled my fingerprints from the database on the sixth day after filing — they used the ones from my previous visa history, so I didn’t have to go in person.
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Belgrade is a perfectly workable option for consular processing — they also approve arts-category cases there without problems. I went through Warsaw myself, but the choice of consulate is fairly free if you don’t have a strict tie to your country of residence.
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My understanding was that to schedule an interview at the embassy you need the petition number — you get it as soon as the whole packet goes into review at USCIS, and after that you can book and reschedule if you can’t make it. Or is that not how it works? Because from what people are discussing here, it looks like between the petition approval and the interview the NVC is a separate step with its own processing queue.
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