USCIS in a press release in late may had announced that with effect from August 15, 2011, US Citizen petitioners residing in Countries without a USCIS office would be able to file the I-130 from with the USCIS Chicago Lockbox facility. The number of such petitions accounts for about 5% of all I-130 petitions filed…

A clarification issued by the U.S. Consulate in Hyderabad through the VFS regarding submission of documents indicates that applicants required to submit the documents for certain categories of nonimmigrant visas are allowed to do so only 3 to 5 working days prior to the date of visa interview. Applicants will not be permitted to do…

U.S. nonimmigrant visa applicants applying from India need to provide the address for delivery for the passport if a visa is issued at the time of scheduling the visa interview. If delivery is not available to their address, they may choose to hold the passport at the VFS or the Blue Dart location. If the…

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.