Under the new visa interview procedure, effective September 26, 2012, when an applicant schedules a visa appointment, s/he can choose an Offsite Facilitation Center or authorized Blue Dart office to hold the passport until s/he can collect it (if the visa is approved). Subscribers to MurthyIndiaBulletin and visitors to MurthyIndiaDotCom also are aware that applicants can have the passports delivered to a specified address, by completing the Home/Office Courier Delivery form and remitting a fee of Rs. 300 per passport at the designated counter within the U.S. Embassy / Consulate, after a successful visa interview.

In a recent change to the system, applicants can choose to change the “hold at” location even after the visa interview is completed, but prior to 11:59 p.m. IST on the date of interview. Earlier, one could not modify this after the biometrics. This information can be found here.