After the U.S. immigrant visa you have applied for is approved by a U.S. consulate, you will receive your passport back, with the visa affixed to one of its pages. You are on your way to becoming a lawful U.S. resident! You will also receive a cover letter, which might contain country-specific information or information specific to your visa type. (This is the procedure only if you were interviewed overseas, not if you adjusted status in the United States.) But you might also be given a sealed immigrant visa packet. This article discusses what goes into that packet, and how to handle it.
Didn't receive a full packet? Don't worry. If you see the notation “IV Docs in CCD” with the visa stamp in your passport, it means all your documents were transmitted electronically. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer with whom you meet when entering the United States will be able to access all of these online.
When You'll Get Your Immigrant Visa Packet
You do not ordinarily get your passport and packet on the same day as your U.S. consular interview. More likely, you will receive them via DHL or another local delivery service, several days after the visa is approved. Or in certain countries, you might have to pick up the passport and packet in person.
After Receiving Your Visa Packet
If and when you receive the visa packet, carefully read the cover letter that comes with it. This letter will, among other bits of information, contain instructions on how to pay your green card processing fee (called the "Immigrant Fee") to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It's a good idea to pay this before you travel to the United States, so that you'll receive your actual green card as soon as possible.
You should also check the visa in your passport, to make sure there are no errors. Most importantly, take note of the visa expiration date, because you must enter the United States before this date. Different members of your family might have been given different expiration dates, so make sure to look at everyone’s visas.
Whatever you do, do not open the visa packet. It must remain sealed until a U.S. immigration officer opens it at the port of entry, for example at the airport where you land. If it was ripped or damaged, or if you accidentally opened it, get in touch with the consulate for a replacement envelope or other instructions, as described below.
What's in Your Visa Packet: Your Immigration File
If you receive the immigration packet as a sealed manila envelope, your name and other biographical data will be on the outside. The envelope (or electronic transmission) itself contains:
- your immigrant visa petition
- copies of your identity documents
- any relationship evidence or other evidence required for your visa type
- the I-864 Affidavit of Support and supporting documents submitted by the U.S. petitioner on behalf of the immigrant(s)
- your medical exam report (X-rays might be in a separate envelope), and
- approved waivers from USCIS (if you received a waiver of ineligibility or inadmissibility).
Your entire paper file (if you received one) will be later be digitally scanned into your electronic immigration file so that it is accessible to U.S. immigration officials everywhere.
Present Your Sealed Visa Packet at a U.S. Port of Entry
Before your visa expiration date, you must travel to the U.S. and present your passport containing your visa, as well as your sealed immigration packet (if you received one) to U.S. CBP officials.
You will need to take the packet with you when you travel to the United States. Do not put it in your checked luggage, because you will usually not have access to your checked luggage until after you pass through immigration. (And there's always the possibility of lost luggage.)
You can present the packet at an international airport in the United States or at a U.S. land border. If entering through the U.S./Mexico land border, and if you were told you have a Class B ineligibility for inactive tuberculosis, check the instruction sheet that comes with your packet, because you can enter only at designated locations.
The officer will keep your packet, which then becomes part of your permanent Alien File, also known as the A-File. Your A-number will be printed on your green card and you will use this number any time you correspond with U.S. immigration authorities in the future, for example, if you later decide to apply for naturalized U.S. citizenship. Your A-number should also be annotated on your visa, if you need to reference it before your green card arrives.
Your passport, with the visa and stamp, will serve as your temporary green card. It can take up to a year to receive your green card, so if you move in that time, you must notify USCIS of your address change. Until your green card arrives, you can use your visa and passport stamp to prove your legal right to live and work in the United States.
Contact the U.S. Consulate if Your Packet Is Opened, Damaged, or Lost
You should not open your sealed immigrant visa packet. However, if it somehow gets opened, you can contact the U.S. consulate to arrange for it to be returned and repackaged. If there's just minor damage, such as a small tear in the envelope with no indications or possibility that someone tampered with the contents, they might just instruct you to seal it with tape to prevent further damage. Be sure to print out any emails or other written communications containing such instructions, to show the CBP officer upon U.S. entry.
The expiration date on your visa will still be the same, so you will need to contact the consulate as soon as possible to ensure you get it returned before your visa expires.
If the actual contents of your packet are damaged, lost, or stolen, the consulate can put together a new packet, but this process can be quite labor intensive and takes some time. You might also have to provide some of the documents again, particularly if the consulate does not have a scanned copy in its files.
The sealed immigrant visa packet contains highly personal information about you and your immigrant visa petitioner, so you should take extraordinary measures to safeguard and conceal it when carrying it in public.