In recent months, U.S. immigration authorities have made several changes to non-immigrant visa application procedures at the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India, including changes in the Interview Waiver Program (IWP) in March 2012, and recent changes to the visa application process for minors. Murthy Immigration Services, Pvt. Ltd. reported these as soon as they were introduced. In this article, we look at new Drop Box facility procedures as they apply to non-immigrant visa applicants older than 80 years of age.

Drop Box Application Process Extended to Applicants Older Than 80 Years

Earlier, non-immigrant applicants below age 7 and above age 80 had the option to request a waiver of the personal interview. Now, following the introduction of the IWP, the U.S. Visa Facilitation Service (VFS) website states that such applicants may use the Drop Box facility, and are not required to appear for a personal interview under any circumstance.

Procedure Followed Earlier

For personal interviews, visa officers rely primarily on the Form DS-160 and information presented by the applicant in response to questions at the interview. The visa officers seldom review any supporting documents like proof of income, bank statements, etc. However, when one does not appear for a personal interview, in addition to the visa application form, it is advisable to include appropriate documents to support the visa application. Qualifying applicants can now submit the relevant documents to the nearest VFS/U.S. visa application center. The submission form and list of required documents can be found here.

Choice of Application Process: Personal Interview or Drop Box – Not Affected

The VFS website reads, “Please note that children under 7 and applicants above 80 years are not required to appear for an interview under any circumstance.” VFS personnel clarified via telephone that applicants eligible for the IWP, who choose to apply as a group (this could be derivative beneficiary as in the case of H-1/H-4 or other family members in the case of B-2 visas), may continue to choose one of the options described below. Though they need not attend the visa interview, they may choose to attend so that the cases can be processed as a group.

Let us consider, for example, a family that includes an applicant aged 35 years, wife aged 32 years, father aged 81 years and child aged 6 years, applying for B-2 visas. In this example, the applicant’s father and child are eligible for IWP. They will have the following options:

1. The father and child may choose not to attend the interview, using the IWP, and may simply submit the necessary documents through VFS;
2. The father and child may choose to accompany the 35 year-old applicant and his wife for the visa interview; or
3. The 35 year-old applicant and wife may schedule an appointment for themselves and carry the supporting documents for the father and child and submit them to the visa officials at the interview.

Better To Schedule a Personal Interview, if Travel is Urgent

Under the IWP, the processing time for non-immigrant visa applications varies from three to six weeks or more. Applicants with an urgent need to travel should schedule a personal interview to avoid processing delays.

Conclusion

Readers should be aware that these procedures are subject to change. We will make every effort to update MurthyIndiaDotCom readers and subscribers to MurthyIndiaBulletin on any changes to the visa application process. Nonetheless, we advise U.S. visa applicants to check for updates on the respective U.S. consular and VFS websites, prior to their interview.

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