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…

The District Court in Northern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the government from implementing Section 2 of Presidential Proclamation 10052, which suspended / limited entry of certain H, L and J applicants until December 31, 2020. This relief is limited to the Plaintiffs in the incumbent case # Case 4:20-cv-04887-JSW. A copy of…

As of this writing, the consular posts are accepting B1/B2 applications, eligible for the dropbox. Regular appointments are available only in Feb / March 2021. If one plans to travel in the near future, it is important to complete the visa application form DS160, pay the visa application fee, schedule the first available appointment and continue…

The MRV fee is usually valid for a period of one year from the date of payment. In a welcome measure, the U.S. Mission to India has notified that they will extend the validity of the visa application fees until December 31, 2021 even if the one-year validity is completed prior to that.  The U.S.…

The consular posts across India recently resumed accepting drop box applications for renewal of all categories of U.S. non-immigrant visas. H/L and J applicants, subject to the presidential proclamation (10052) should additionally qualify for one of the exceptions as released by the Department of State on August 12, 2020. This list can be found here. Earlier,…

H, L and J visa applicants, subject to the presidential proclamation (10052) but, qualifying for the exception as released by the U.S. Department of State should make a request for an emergency appointment on www.ustraveldocs.com/in. To raise a request for an emergency appointment, one needs to schedule the first available visa interview and then choose…

A recent notification on the official U.S. department of State website for visa appointments indicates that the consulate will begin processing of pending IR1/2 and CR1/2 cases (spouses and children of U.S. citizens) which were refused pursuant to INA 221(g). This update can be found here and a related update on the U.S. embassy website can be…

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. Recently, this website has been revamped and a new look website has been…

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…