What’s the difference between a National Visa Center notice that says you’re in queue or that you’re documentarily qualified? You will see people reference In Queue notices and being documentarily qualified.

The difference is just a change in terminology. It was fairly recently probably within the past year that the National Visa Center stopped sending notices that said, “You’re now in queue. ” And they started instead saying, “You’re documentarily qualified.”

Both of them basically mean the National Visa Center is satisfied with what you provided and we are prepared to send your file along to the appropriate embassy to set up your interview as soon as that’s possible. One of the reasons they may have changed that is because the National Visa Center used to say, “Now, you’re in queue for an interview.”

But now, they’re holding on to some of those files as the embassies have been overwhelmed. They’re not passing them all on right away. So, documentarily qualified just means you have all the necessary documents and there’s nothing you can do. You just wait.

That’s what both of those notices mean but that’s why you might see the differing terminology on different forums or references or materials. You might see In Queue notice and wonder why you didn’t get that. You won’t get that anymore. Those notices are emailed. The National Visa Center emails things you may have gotten used to getting mail notices from USCIS. Then you start getting emails only from National Visa Center. It can be a little bit unnerving sometimes.