In U.S. family-based immigration, an applicant whose application has a consular filing sequence will have to use the USCIS ELIS system. The USCIS ELIS is a dedicated section of the USCIS website that enables the applicant to pay the “immigrant fee.” USCIS states that it uses this fee to process the applicant’s visa packet (the envelope that the applicant gives to the custom and border patrol officer at the point of entry) and to produce the applicant’s permanent resident card (the green card). USCIS encourages the applicant to pay the fee after the applicant picks up his or her immigrant visa packet and before the applicant departs for the United States. Note that the USCIS ELIS system is quite cumbersome, so do not expect payment to be fast or easy.
The following information is required to log in:
- The A-number (Alien number), which is the letter “A” followed by eight or nine numbers.
- The Department of State (DOS) case ID, which is three letters followed by nine or 10 numbers.
- Go to the USCIS ELIS section of the website.