The nonimmigrant visa section at the U.S. Consulate, Chennai, will be closed to the public on April 24, 2014, according to a recent notification on the official visa information website of the U.S. missions in India. Consequentially, anyone who has a confirmed nonimmigrant visa or biometrics appointment for April 24, 2014, should reschedule. There is…

Regular readers of MurthyIndiaBulletin and MurthyIndiaDotCom are aware that both nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applicants must attend a biometrics appointment at the Visa Application Center (VAC) prior to their visa interviews. Generally, applicants are allowed to join the queue 15-minutes prior to their scheduled biometrics appointment. Applicants who arrive much earlier than their scheduled appointment…

CBP commenced operation of its preclearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport, United Arab Emirates, on January 26, 2014. CBP now has 16 preclearance facilities in 6 countries. Ordinarily, passengers undergo immigration, customs, and agriculture inspections upon arrival at a U.S. airport. However, passengers travelling through one of these 16 preclearance facilities including the new…

With H1B filing season around the corner, U.S. consular posts in India advise the public to beware of fraudulent job offers. We, at Murthy Immigration Services Pvt. Ltd., receive numerous calls from persons who have received emails from companies that claim to be H1B sponsors, but in fact are not. The targets of this scam…

We had reported on December 2, 2013 on the requirement for immigrant visa applicants to complete the new online immigrant visa application form DS-260 which replaces the paper based form DS-230 (Part I and II). Effective December 23, 2013, all immigrant visa applicants are required to schedule an appointment for biometrics through www.ustraveldocs.com/in at one…

Non-Immigrant Visa Applicants are Permitted more Number of Cancellations of Visa Interview(s) Subscribers to MurthyIndiaBulletin and regular visitors to MurthyIndiaDotCom are aware that a new visa interview system was introduced in September 2012. Under this system, we understand that one is permitted to cancel the visa interview up to six times. This information was shared…

We had reported on December 2, 2013 on the requirement for immigrant visa applicants to complete the new online immigrant visa application form DS-260 which replaces the paper based form DS-230 (Part I and II). Another recent update indicates that effective December 23, 2013, all immigrant visa applicants need to schedule a biometric appointment through…

Consular Facebook Chat was introduced by the U.S. Embassy in India on November 21, 2013 and the consular officers respond to visa-related questions on every Friday (https://www.facebook.com/India.usembassy). Applicants / prospective applicant(s) can post his/her question(s) as comments below the timeline post “Welcome to Visa Fridays!”. The visa-related questions are chosen between 11.00 AM and 1.00…

Regular readers of MurthyIndiaDotCom and MurthyIndiaBulletin are aware that the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India introduced optional courier delivery service in May 2013 for non-immigrant visa applicants. This facility was later extended to immigrant visa applicants. A recent update on http://www.ustraveldocs.com/in/ indicates that this service will be terminated with effect from November 30, 2013.…

A recent update on the Consular website indicates that effective September 1, 2013, all immigrant visa applicants from India are required to complete the new immigrant visa application form DS-260. This new electronic version of the immigrant visa application form replaces the paper based form DS-230 (Part I and II). The Principal Applicant, Attorney, Petitioner…