The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a final rule, marking the first adjustment of certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees since 2016. The new fees under the final rule will go into effect on April 1, 2024. Background The final rule stems from a comprehensive review of fees mandated by law,…

The pilot program, which enables certain H-1B visa holders to secure a travel visa within the United States, eliminating the need to depart the country for visa renewal, is scheduled to operate from January 29 to April 1, 2024. It will accept applications from a maximum of 20,000 H-1B visa holders whose prior H-1B visas…

The Visa Appointment Service of the U.S. Department of State (DOS) has provided additional guidance for Indian students on applying for an emergency student visa appointment. Background One of the primary obstacles faced by Indian students is the scarcity of regular visa appointment slots, especially during off-peak seasons. Typically, the bulk of visa appointment opportunities…

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced on February 02, 2024 that it will conduct the system maintenance to the Contact Relationship Interface (CRIS) from 11.50 p.m. EST on Wednesday, February 07, 2024 to 2.a.m EST on Thursday, February 08, 2024. It has been informed by the USCIS that during this time…

Several non-immigrant U.S. visa applicants in India received an email from the visa application centre (VAC) on February 2, 2024, informing them that their respective visa appointments were cancelled. This email notification did not provide any reasons for the cancellation and advised the applicants to log in to their profiles for further details.  This led…

On December 21, 2023, the U.S. Secretary of State in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that specific categories of interview waivers are deemed to be in national interest. This will be effective January 1, 2024, onwards and will undergo annual review. Waiver of In-person Interviews Consular officers now possess the authority…

We had earlier reported that the U.S. Consulate, Chennai announced that they will resume visa processing following Cyclone Michaung from Monday, December 11, 2023. In the earlier announcement, it was noted that applicants for whom the appointments were cancelled (between December 4 to December 8) will be contacted directly with information on the rescheduling.  A…

The U.S. Consulate in Chennai announced today that visa application processing services will resume from Monday, December 11, 2023.  The news release indicates that visa appointments that were canceled due to the visa service closures from December 4 to December 8, 2023 are being rescheduled. This includes all consular appointments including dropbox and biometrics. Each affected applicant will…

The U.S. Consulate General, Chennai has announced that all Consular, Dropbox, Biometric and other Appointments scheduled for WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2023 stands cancelled on account of CYCLONE MICHAUNG. The news release indicates that these appointments will be rescheduled and information on the rescheduling will be communicated to the applicants directly.  The news release also indicates that the…

The U.S. Consulate General, Chennai has cancelled all scheduled Consular, Dropbox, Biometric and any other Appointments until TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2023 on account of CYCLONE MICHAUNG. The news release indicated that these appointments will be rescheduled and information on the rescheduling will be communicated to the applicants directly.  The news release also indicates that the U.S. Consulate…