Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in a press release in late April 2012 announced that medical students applying for higher education in the U.S. would have to submit a “No Objection Certificate” from India. It is understood that this certificate will be issued once the aspiring student executes a…

A recent update on the VFS website (official administrative partners for US Consulates / Embassy in India) indicates that non-immigrant visa interview is waived for children aged below 7 years at all U.S. Consular offices in India. Subscribers of MurthyIndiaBulletin are aware that a non-immigrant visa interview waiver program (IWP) was recently re-introduced on a…

The consular exchange rate was adjusted to INR 56 to a US Dollar (USD) in May 2012. With the Indian Rupee falling further, effective Monday, June 4, 2012, the consular exchange rate been revised to Rs. 58 to a USD. This revision in the exchange rate will affect the INR equivalent for all the non-immigrant,…

In our previous bulletin, we had informed readers about the changes in the visa application fees for immigrant and non-immigrant visas. Subsequent to this, with effect from Monday, April 23, 2012, the U.S. Consular Exchange rate has been adjusted as INR 54 to one USD. This revision in the exchange rate will affect the INR…

As you are aware, the US Citizenship services section of the U.S. Consulate General, Chennai organizes “Outreach Program” at Bangalore periodically to help US Citizens. The next outreach program at Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) is scheduled from May 16, to May 18 of 2012. US Citizens can avail the following services with prior confirmed appointments: Apply…

A press release dated March 29, 2012 by the Department of State, which is also available on the U.S. Consulate, Chennai’s website notifies that effective April 13, 2012 the visa processing fee is revised. This revision results in an increase in fee for most commonly used non-immigrant visas. The fee for certain non-immigrant and all…

A very recent change on VFS website indicates availability of waiver of visa interview for certain non-immigrant visa applicants. As of this writing, other than a reference to this on the VFS website’s home page; there is no formal update or news flash either on the VFS or consular website. Following this, one of the…

Effective February 1, 2012 all communication related to Immigrant Visas at U.S. Consulate in Mumbai needs to be directed through infousmumbai@vfshelpline.com. Previously, all communication was directed to mumbaiiv@state.gov. As reported earlier, effective January 2012, the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai handles immigrant visa applications from States of Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and the Union…

A recent update on the VFS site indicates that with effect from December 27, 2010 the timing for collection of passport is changed to 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.. Perviously, the passport collection time was from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. This update can be found here.

Over the past few days, if one enters “www.vfs-usa.co.in” it is routed to an error message. This error message also indicates that this site needs to be viewed over secure channel and that , one needs to prefix “https://”. Effectively, to access the VFS website, one needs to key in “https://www.vfs-usa.co.in” on the address bar.…