[1] It was established on July 26, 1994, on the site of an Air Force base that was closed down by The Pentagon.
The IR subcategory in the Form I-130 category is uncapped, and therefore the NVC immediately begins processing the application.
However, the F subcategory has numerical limits, and is generally backlogged, and therefore applications in this category may have to wait.
Note that wait times depend both on the type of visa in the F category, and the country of chargeability.
This is a rare case of a non-immigrant visa category with explicit immigrant intent.
USCIS notifies NVC once the Form I-601A is approved and the Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver is granted, so that NVC can process any visa application for the applicant based on a petition listing him or her as a beneficiary.
[6][7] The approval of a Form I-601A is automatically revoked, and therefore no longer valid, if the applicant travels overseas for the immigrant visa interview and the consular Department of State officer identifies any grounds of inadmissibility other than unlawful presence as applicable.
The key difference between the two methods is that for (1), the key decision to approve the beneficiary's transition is made by a consular officer employed by the U.S. Department of State and stationed in another country, whereas for (2), the final decision is made by a USCIS Field Officer.
In this case, the NVC holds on to the petition until it is requested by a USCIS Field Office.
For Form I-130 and I-360, in some cases, another option called Direct Consular Filing (that bypasses the NVC) is available; however, this applies only to categories with no numerical limits.
For some petitions, the USCIS may issue a Request For Evidence or Notice of Intent to Deny.
[13] For visas in numerically limited categories, the date that the petition is received by the USCIS is treated as the Priority Date for the application, with the exception of petitions that require Permanent Labor Certification.
NVC is not responsible for managing the queue of applications or updating the cutoff dates.
If the consular officer adjudicating the beneficiary's visa application believes the underlying USCIS petition was approved in error or is no longer approvable the officer may return the petition to USCIS for revocation/reconsideration.