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…

With effect from Friday, November 12, 2013, the U.S. consular exchange rate is adjusted to INR 65 to one US$. More recently, the consular exchange rate was revised to INR 68 to one US$ on September 26, 2013. This revision in the exchange rate will affect the INR equivalent for all application fees paid on…

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. The next outreach program at Bengaluru is scheduled for December 17 through 20, 2013. More information on the services offered and procedure to schedule an…

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. The next outreach program at Bengaluru is scheduled for November 18 through 22, 2013. More information on the services offered and procedure to schedule an…

Once a consular officer grants status as a Returning Resident (SB-1), the applicant must appear for an immigrant visa interview on a different date. We have received several inquiries seeking clarification of the immigrant visa application fee for such cases, because this is not clearly spelled out on www.ustraveldocs.com/in and the consular website. According to…

This is an important reminder for all immigrant visa applicants in India: immigrant visa applicants must create a profile on http://www.ustraveldocs.com/in/, and choose a location for passport pick-up or delivery, upon successful completion of visa interview. Immigrant visa applicants also may create a profile and select a pick-up location by phoning into the helpdesk, reachable…

Under the new visa interview procedure, effective September 26, 2012, when an applicant schedules a visa appointment, s/he can choose an Offsite Facilitation Center or authorized Blue Dart office to hold the passport until s/he can collect it (if the visa is approved). Subscribers to MurthyIndiaBulletin and visitors to MurthyIndiaDotCom also are aware that applicants…

Regular readers of MurthyIndiaBulletin and MurthyIndiaDotCom are aware that a new visa application procedure has been in place in India since September 26, 2012. Under the new procedure, all nonimmigrant visa applicants requiring a personal interview must schedule two appointments – one with the Offsite Facilitating Centre (OFC) to complete biometrics, and the other with…