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…

Background U.S. visa applicants may recall that the procedure to apply for a nonimmigrant visa in India is to (1) first complete the visa application form DS160, (2) create an account of www.usvisascheduling.com, choose the right category of visa, and (3) pay the visa application fee. Once this is done, depending on eligibility, (4) one…

On October 17, 2023, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) sent a Federal Register notice to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which offers further details regarding an upcoming pilot initiative that will enable specific H-1B visa holders to secure a travel visa within the United States, eliminating the need to depart the country…

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that effective immediately,  the maximum validity period of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) will increase from one or two years under its prior policy to five years, for several work authorization categories.  The following categories will benefit from this policy change of maximum validity for EADs: For initial…

The new U.S. visa application system in India, which has become a nightmare for U.S. visa applicants is closed for maintenance from 6:30 p.m. EDT (4 a.m. Indian Standard Time) for two hours. Several U.S. visa applicants are facing difficulties with the new visa application system which was expected to make the process smoother for…

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has announced that beginning October 1, 2023, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India will begin centralizing the processing of most nonimmigrant visa interview waiver (drop box) cases in Chennai. This update can be found here and details are provided below. Highlights of the Announcement • Effective October 1,…

U.S. visa applicants are aware that the U.S. Department of State (DOS) had extended the validity of the Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fee receipts until September 30, 2023. On September 1, 2023, the DOS updated the notification, reminding that all Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fee receipts issued before October 1, 2022, are set to expire on September…

This is a reminder that the visa services including support desk are suspended from July 25-28, 2023. A new visa system is expected to be in place from July 29, 2023. Key Changes (1) The visa appointment system will get a new look and process flow. (2) The new URL to schedule appointments will be…