As many nonimmigrant visa applicants may already be aware, new visa application form DS-160 was introduced in January 2010 replacing the earlier Form DS-156; DS-157 and DS-158. We had reported this on January 8, 2010. Since its introduction, the process to complete the Form DS-160 has been constantly streamlined. However, in the last week of…

A recent announcement released by the Consular Chief Mr. Michael Yoder at U.S. Consulate, Hyderabad and Mr. Bryan Dalton at U.S. Consulate, Chennai indicate that applicant(s) appearing for a non-immigrant visa interview from June 20, 2011 and June 30, 2011 at U.S. Consulate in Hyderabad and Chennai respectively will be allowed to enter the consulate…

Regular visitors to MurthyIndiaDotCom and Subscribers to MurthyIndiaBulletin may be aware that the geographic restriction that an application for nonimmigrant visa should be made at the U.S. consulate or Embassy with jurisdiction over the applicants domicile was relaxed towards the end of 2010. This was reported on December 03, 2010. While scheduling an appointment using…

The Department of State has launched a new website on J-1 visa program. This website provides detailed information on available J-1 programs; procedure to obtain a DS-2019; clarification on who can issue the DS-2019; This also discusses the frequently asked questions; etc. This website can be found here.

The U.S. Consulate in Chennai has provided an update on the number of applications processed and statistics on the visa approvals. They have also provided some pointers on the visa application process. This can be found here.

The Indian Regional Passport Office (South) has introduced issuance of passport with biometrics for the first time in India with the help of Tata Consultancy Services. This is a pilot program dedicated to the nation. This pilot project has been inaugurated in Trichy, Thanjavur, Madurai and Tirunelveli and the official information can be found here.

Regular readers of MurthyIndiaBulletin and visitors to MurthyIndiaDotCom may be aware that applicants will have to upload a scan copy of his / her photo online since the inception of DS 160 visa application since Janaury 2010. We have clients having difficulty in uploading photographs online and seeking clarification on how to crop the photograph…

Non-immigrant visa applicants can choose to hold his / her passport at the VFS location, if their address / pincode is not serviceable by Blue Dart courier service. Previously this option was available only at one of the Blue Dart locations. Applicants can still continue to choose one of the Blue Dart hold at locations…

All non-immigrant visa applicants who require an emergency appointment due to any unforeseen travel requirement were originally able to schedule the interview online through VFS website. This process was discontinued in January 2010 and all applicants had to send an email request to the respective consulate to request for an emergency appointment. This process has…

We received telephonic inquiries over an eMail received from the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi instructing visa applicants who already had a visa to submit their passport again. We at MISPL spoke to VFS customer care personnel on their helpline number to clarify this issue. We understand that there was some technical issue on the visas…