A recent notification on the on the Department of State’s website indicates that the scope of drop-box eligibility has been expanded worldwide. Earlier, certain non-immigrants were eligible to apply through the drop-box facility if their most recent visa on the same category expired within the last 12 months. Now, eligible applicants may use the drop-box…

U.S. visa applicants, both immigrant and non-immigrant, are aware that one needs to visit the country specific website of www.ustraveldocs.com to pay the visa application fee and schedule the visa interview. For U.S. visa applicants in India, the web URL is www.ustraveldocs.com/in. We noticed that this website has been revamped and a new look website…

An update on the U.S. Consular website in India has notified that, beginning August 17, 2020 U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and the consular posts in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata will begin processing student and academic exchange visitor applications on a limited basis.  The notification also indicates that operations will be open in a…

A notification on www.ustraveldocs.com/in, the official visa information website for consular posts in India shows that the U.S. Visa Application centers in India are open from August 10, 2020. The VACs are located at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad & Kolkata and six documents delivery centers are located at Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and…

An informal guidance from the Bureau of Consular Office was released to guide U.S. visa applicants worldwide. This guidance clarifies that students applying for F or M visas may do so and need not qualify for the national interest exception. In India, if a student is within 60 days of the start date of the program,…

A recent notification on the website of U.S. Mission in India indicates that they will resume routine visa services as soon as possible, however, the notification clarifies that they are unable to provide any specific date. All Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fees are valid for one year from the date of payment. Though the consular services…

An attorney from Murthy Immigration Services recently reached out to the Consul General at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Consul General was kind to share important updates, which we disseminate for the benefit of our readers.  The document collection / delivery centers are operational. However, no new visa applications are accepted at this…

The U.S. President, Donald J. Trump, issued a Presidential Proclamation on June 22, 2020 to impact certain non-immigrant visas (NIVs) specifically those on H-1B, H-2B, L-1 and certain categories of J visas, as well as their family members on dependent status. The Proclamation became effective on June 24, 2020.Extends Prior Ban Against Immigrants Entering the…

Updated on July 7, 2020 One may recall that due to COVID-19, the risk of transmission and infections, the U.S. mission in India stopped accepting visa applications since March 16, 2020. Following the announcement, all the existing visa appointments were automatically cancelled. As of this writing, the bio-metric and visa appointments at the various U.S.…

An update on the White House website indicates that President Donald J. Trump is extending the pause of new immigrant visas till December 31, 2020. Additionally, his administration is working on imposing a pause on H-1Bs, H-2Bs without a nexus to food-supply chain, certain H-4s, Ls and certain Js. The release clarifies this measure is…