Options if Petition Approval is not in the PIMS

Prior to the issuance of an H, L, O, P or Q visa, a US consular officer must verify that a petition approval is legitimate through the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) in a “PIMS” report. According to the US State Department, the CCD is a “data warehouse that holds current and archived data from the Bureau of Consular Affairs.”  Although an applicant may have a paper Form I-797 approval notice, a visa will not be issued without confirmation from USCIS. The PIMS report enables consular officers to quickly access and confirm USCIS petition approval through the CCD. The collaboration between USCIS and the State Department simplifies the approval verification and visa issuance process at US consulates.

What if my petition approval is not in the PIMS?

For the KCC to enter the information in the PIMS, the petitioner, at the time of initial filing has to submit a duplicate original petition which should include original signatures as well as all the additional documents. Same should be done with any response to request for additional evidence (RFE). It is advisable to separate the original petition and the duplicate original with a brightly-colored coversheet with a note that the duplicate original should be forwarded to the KCC. Once USCIS approves a visa petition, a copy of the petition approval is sent to the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC), which processes paperwork for non-immigrant work visas from consulates around the world. It takes KCC five days to get a case from the service center once it is approved. Once KCC has received the case, it takes them additional three days to scan it in the system with the day of receiving being day zero. If at the time of the interview the petition approval is not found through the CCD, the KCC will research and verify the petition approval, if requested. KCC can typically confirm a petition approval within two business days.

Delays in Visa Issuance

At times visa applicants are informed that a visa cannot be granted to them and that further administrative processing is required. Generally, the visa officer will not inform the applicant whether the further processing is PIMS related or for some other issue. Visa applicants should be prepared for the possibility of visa processing delays and should plan their foreign visits accordingly by building in flexibility in the event of a delay.  Additionally, it is strongly suggested that the applicant take the original petition approval and complete copy of the petition along with a copy of the RFE to the visa interview.