Effective January 3, 2011, the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai has joined the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi in providing comprehensive and multi-lingual helpline for U.S. non-immigrant visa applicants through the VFS services. The VFS call centers handle inquires from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on all working days.…

We wish to remind U.S. visa applicants who hold Indian passports valid for 20 years to replace the passport with a 10 year passport prior to applying for a U.S. visa. Though the U.S. Government recognizes the 20 year passports issued by India, in March 2004, the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC advised Indians with…

Subscribers of MurthyIndiaBulletin and readers of MurthyIndia.com are aware of the application process for Consular Report of Birth abroad (CRBA) at the U.S. Consulates and Embassy in India posted on Oct 6, 2009. We would like to inform our readers and prospective applicants for CRBA that, the Consulates and Embassy in India have suspended action…

With effect from Wednesday, December 1, 2010, the U.S. Consular Exchange rate is adjusted from INR 46 to the dollar to INR 47 to the dollar. This will affect the INR equivalent for all the non-immigrant, immigrant visa and Citizenship services application fees paid on or after December 1, 2010. Effectively, the new non-immigrant visa…

Regular subscribers of the MurthyIndiaBulletin and readers of MurthyIndia.com are aware that the U.S. Visa application process has been continuously streamlined to make the application process simpler. In yet another effort to make interview dates available immediately, the U.S. Ambassador to India Mr. Timothy J. Roemer on November 18, 2010 announced that the U.S. Embassy…

An update on the VFS website indicates that with effect from November 20, 2010 the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and the U.S. Consulates in Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Calcutta would collect an additional fee of US$ 2,000 for certain H1-B and $ 2,500 for L1-A and L1-B petitions which are covered by the provisions…

A recent update on Chennai consular website indicates that new courier delivery service is available for U.S. passports through VFS courier services. Henceforth all American Citizens opting for courier delivery should obtain a demand draft in favor of “VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd” for INR 166 per passport. S/he should carry the demand draft along with a…

This update is for Blanket L visas. Applicants who received L1 visa stamping after May 2010 based on approved blanket L petition, should ensure that his/her visa stamping has the proper annotation “Blanket L-1” for the principal beneficiary and “Blanket L-2” for any derivative spouse or child. Moreover the annotation should state the name of…

Readers and visitors of muthyindia.com should be aware of the earlier update on October 5, 2010 where demand drafts for VFS service charge should be made in favor of “VFS Global Service Pvt. Ltd” instead of “HDFC Bank a/c VFS”. With effect from October 7, 2010, VFS has reverted back to its earlier stance that…

The new form DS160 was introduced earlier in 2010. Since its introduction, many non-immigrant visa applicants have been complaining of the session expiring and having to refill the application. In our earlier article, we had advised applications to save the file at each stage so that s/he can retrieve the application and continue from where…