We earlier reported that special flights and naval ships were arranged for repatriation of Indian Nationals stranded abroad. On May 24, 2020, Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an updated Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for Indian Nationals stranded abroad and for other country nationals stranded in India intending to visit U.S. for urgent reasons. This order supersedes previous…

A press release by the Ministry of Home Affairs notifies that the Indian Government is facilitating the return of Indian Nationals stranded abroad in a phased manner, starting May 7, 2020. Another press release on the Indian Embassy’s website notifies that the Government of India is collecting data to facilitate special flights for return of…

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, on April 22, 2020, signed a Proclamation to temporarily suspend the entry of certain immigrants who present risk to the U.S. labor market during the economic recovery following the COVID-19 outbreak. Some salient features of this proclamation are: The Proclamation became effective at 11:59 PM EDT on April…

Our regular readers are aware, that some nonimmigrants may be eligible for Emergency Appointment despite the U.S. consular section closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our earlier update on this can be found here.Over the past several weeks U.S. consular officers, and personnel have assisted over a thousand US citizens and certain lawful permanent residents to…

Earlier we reported that some Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Card Holders require re-issuance of OCI Card under Indian Law.Earlier we reported that certain Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders were required to re-issue their OCI cards under Indian law.A press release on the Indian Government’s Ministry of External Affairs website indicates that this…

In a press release dated March 23, 2020, the Embassy of India, Washington DC has notified that only restricted consular services are available at Indian consular missions in the U.S. following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Until further notice, the Indian consular missions in the U.S. will not accept: Applications for status as Overseas Citizen…

A recent update on the CEAC website indicates that Immigrant Visa payments which are showing a current status on “In-Process” are taking longer than usual to reflect final payment. This update is available here. Our readers may be aware that the display of various status like “Start Now”, “In-Process” and “Paid” generally indicate the three stages of…

The Department of State has announced that the consular posts worldwide will give priority and grant emergency visas to medical professionals, especially those who can treat or mitigate the effects of COVID-19. This update can be found here. Medical professionals with approved I-129 or I-140 (with current priority date) or valid form DS-2019 should approach…

The U.S. mission in India has arranged a series of flights to take back U.S. citizens and certain U.S. Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) to the United States.  There are two flights arranged for this week. One is scheduled to depart on April 7, 2020 and the other on April 10, 2020. The notification also indicates…

The Indian Government has issued an advisory the the F1 students in the United States. We urge Indian students in the United States to follow this link and take adequate precaution to ensure they not only stay safe, but also continue maintain valid status by doing the needful.