Petition Information Management Service
"PIMS"

Before a US Consul can issue certain petition based visas, including H & L, details of the approved petition must have been uploaded to the "Petition Information Management Sservice - "PIMS."  Information from the petition is transferred from USCIS to a State Department processing center in Kentucky, and uploaded to the PIMS system.

A State Department cable implementing this system summarizes:  "Consular posts are now able to access the details of approved nonimmigrant visa petitions through the CCD in a new report called "PIMS" (Petition Information Management Service). The Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) has ceased e-mailing scanned copies of approved petitions to posts. The electronic PIMS record created by KCC will now be the primary source."

If an H or L visa petition has not been uploaded to PIMS at the time a visa application is made, the Consul will send a cable requesting that the petition information be entered.  This will normally result in a delay of one or two weeks - sometimes longer.

The State Department cable is available online.