We reported that the visa appointments we see in India for February and March 2021 are only placeholder appointments. These were created to facilitate an applicant to request an emergency appointment. We reported that unless the consular services resume regular operations, one should expect these appointments to be cancelled. We have noticed that this has already started…

The U.S. Department of State has on December 29, 2020 temporarily extended the eligibility for Interview Waivers to protect people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Originally, certain nonimmigrant visa applicants were eligible for interview waiver if the previous visa in the same category held by the applicant expired within the last 12 months. This was temporarily…

President Trump has extended the visa restrictions imposed by his Administration’s April 22, 2020 and the June 22, 2020, proclamation that prohibits the admission of certain nonimmigrants on H1B, L1 and certain non-immigration status. The restrictions have been extended until March 31, 2021. This means that H-1B or L1 visa applicants who were scheduled for…

The U.S. Department of State (DOS), in a recent notification has indicated that the validity of the Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee has been extended until September 22, 2022. It may be noted that usually the MRV fee is valid for a duration of one year from the date of payment. Earlier, validity of the…

U.S. consular posts in India started accepting applications for F1 students visas, as soon as they resumed limited operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The consular website continues to indicate that they are focussing their resources on student visa applications. Though the consular website clearly indicates that students with (i) a valid I-20 and start date of…

Attorneys at MISPL participated in a webinar organized by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce on November 18, 2020 with Ms. Kathryn Flachsbart, Chief of Consular Services & Mr. Carlton Benson, Non-Immigrant Visa Chief, both from the American Consulate General, Chennai. We are providing some important take-aways from this webinar. Emergency Appointment Different from NIE Exception…

A tweet by the U.S. Embassy India on October 22 has notified that the appointments available for February and March 2021 will be used to accommodate expedited appointments. The U.S. consular posts in India will cancel all existing appointments scheduled for February and March 2021 and the applicant will have to schedule a new appointment once…

A tweet by the U.S. Embassy in India notifies that in honor of international Ed week, the week starting Monday, November 16 to Friday, November 20 has been dedicated as Student visa week. This has been adapted by the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and the U.S. consulates in Hyderabad and Kolkata. At this time, there is…

U.S. Immigrant visa applicants, applying for their visas abroad may be aware that they traditionally receive a sealed envelope to be hand-delivered by the new immigrant at the port-of-entry. Immigrant visas annotated with “IV docs in CCD” will no longer receive the traditional sealed envelope given to new immigrants. This means that all the necessary documents are…

In a series of Tweets, the U.S. Embassy India has indicated that applicants traveling to India this winter should expect longer wait and processing times even for cases eligible for expedited appointments. The relevant tweet can be found here. Further, INA 221(g) cases that require in-person appointment are not currently processed by the U.S. consular posts…