United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Policy Memorandum on the ‘Accrual of Unlawful Presence and F, J, and M Nonimmigrants’ dated August 9, 2018, has brought a major shift on the subject of when F, J and M nonimmigrants begin accruing unlawful presence. Prior to this Policy Memorandum, such nonimmigrants started accruing unlawful presence only in…

This Article is published for the benefit of foreign nationals applying for an e-Visa to travel to India. The e-Visa enables prospective visitors to pay the visa fee online and apply for an Indian Visa from his/her home country online without visiting the Indian Mission. Once approved, the applicant receives an email authorizing him/her to…

In September 2018, we published an article discussing issues faced by couples (visa applicants) who had registered the marriage under The Hindu Marriages Act (HMA), without completing the necessary rituals as prescribed under this Act. This can be found here. Over the past few weeks, we have noticed that there is an increase in the…

A recent update on www.ustraveldocs.com/in; the official U.S. Visa Information Service for India indicated that the U.S. Visa Application Center in Hyderabad will remain closed on December 7, 2018 on account of the State-Wide elections in Telangana State. All appointments due on December 7, 2018 have been automatically rescheduled to Sunday, December 9, 2018 at…

In our November 2017 issue of MurthyIndiaBulletin, we reported that all hand-written travel documents will become invalid from October 2018 as per the guidelines of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). This can be found here. Presently handwritten Person of Indian Origin (PIO) cards cannot be used for travel as they are invalid according to the…

This Article is published for the benefit of foreign Nationals staying in India on a residential permit or visa. Any foreign national who is in India on a valid visa and requiring an extension, should submit an application to extend the residential permit / visa at least 60 days prior to the date of expiration…

Effective November 25, 2018, the new address of the Visa Application Center (VAC) in Mumbai is: Parinee Crescenzo, 101 1st Floor, A Wing G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex Bandra East, Mumbai – 400051 If an applicant has selected the document delivery location as Mumbai VAC (prior to November 25, 2018), they still need to collect…

Our regular readers are aware that all Blanket L visa have been adjudicated only at the U.S. Consulate, Chennai since December 1, 2011. We intend to clarify that blanket L visa applicants must pay fees associated with petition at the cashier window on the date of visa interview. This is in addition to the consular visa fee…

Effective September 17, 2018, the consular exchange rate has been revised to ₹74 to one US$. This revision in exchange rate will affect the Indian rupee equivalent for all application fees paid on or after September 17, 2018. The revision is applicable across all nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applications, and U.S. Citizenship services. Effectively, the…

Our regular readers are aware of the merger of Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, effective January 9, 2015. This information can be found here. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will accept only machine readable travel documents beginning October 1, 2018. All PIO card holders must obtain a machine…