A green card (Form I-551 or Permanent Resident Card) authorises the holder to permanently live and work in the United States. One may obtain this either through family or through employment. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently clarified that under limited circumstances, they issue green cards without signatures. The signatures are usually…

Regular readers of MurthyIndiaDotCom are aware that the U.S. Citizenship Services Section of the U.S. Consulate General, Chennai, periodically provides outreach services at Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), to help U.S. citizens. These services will be available only by prior appointments and are likely to fill up quickly, we request our readers to plan accordingly. The Consular…

With effect from Thursday, May 14, 2015 the U.S. consular exchange rate is adjusted to ₹66 to one US$. The consular exchange rate was ₹64 to one US$ prior to this. This revision in the exchange rate will affect the Indian Rupee equivalent for all application fees paid on or after May 14, 2015. The…

We had reported on March 18, 2015 that the Business Executive Program (BEP) for India will be discontinued with effect from March 31, 2015. We had also predicted this will cause increased demand for visa appointments at Consular posts in India. Nonimmigrant visa applicants, especially in the B1/B2 category are experiencing increased wait time. Previously visa interviews…

The consular posts in India are celebrating “Student Visa Day” on Thursday, May 28, 2015. This is to help students who plan to pursue their education in the United States. Staff from the Embassy and the United States-India Education Foundation (USIEF) will be available to provide tips and respond to questions relating to academics and…

The Indian government had introduce “Tourist Visa on Arrival” scheme. This led to confusion as foreign nationals from eligible countries often misunderstood that they will be granted visa upon arrival at the port of entry in India, while they were actually required to apply online prior to travel. To avoid this confusion, India recently rechristened this scheme to “e-Tourist Visa”. Eligible foreign nationals are…

A recent update on the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) website indicates that the system will be unavailable from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Washington D.C. Daylight Saving Time on Saturday, March 28, 2015. If a non-immigrant or immigrant visa applicant is scheduled for biometrics on Sunday, March 29 or visa interview on Monday, March 30…

The Business Executive Program (BEP) was established in the 1990’s at the U.S. Missions in India. With effect from April 1, 2015, the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulates in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai will retire this program. Effectively, all BEP log-in’s will be disabled. All appointments made using the BEP login…

A recent update on www.ustraveldocs.com/in (official visa information website of the U.S. Mission in India) indicates that the facility to accept payments using Credit Card is currently unavailable. It may be noted that certain fees including fee for Blanket L (only at Chennai) could be paid using a credit card. Since this facility is currently…