The Department of State ("DOS") has reported that they are transitioning to an online immigrant visa application as of September 3, 2013. Immigrant visa applicants who are processing their immigrant visas (green cards) through the National Visa Center (NVC)/U.S. Consulate will now need to complete the DS-260 form online (Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien [...]
The United States Embassy in India announced modifications to the U.S. visa application procedures effective September 26, 2012. The U.S. Embassy is introducing a new process to be followed by all U.S. visa applicants; these include H-1B and L-1 visa applicants as well as individuals applying for other type of visa for entry to the [...]
We have written extensively over the past few weeks about the upcoming retrogression in the EB-2 India and China categories. So, it should not come as a surprise that the Department of State has confirmed what we have anticipated and expected for a couple of weeks -- namely, that the Department of State has "internally" [...]
Among increased scrutiny and often long waiting period to obtain an H-1B (and sometimes even H-4 for their dependents) visa stamp, a number of US-based IT consulting employees are understandably nervous about traveling abroad and attending the H-1B visa stamp interview. Our office handles a substantial number of such H-1B petitions and H-1B visa stamp [...]
The Department of State (DOS) has announced that effective December 1, 2011, the U.S. Consulate in Chennai will become the only acceptance center in India for all applications for intra-company transfers under the blanket L category. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and U.S. Consulates in Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad will no longer accept or [...]
We have reported previously on the Department of State’s (DOS) efforts to introduce an electronic form (DS-160) for submitting nonimmigrant visa (NIV) application at its consulates around the world. The goal is to have DS-160 replace the paper forms currently used for NIV applications at all U.S. consulates. The DS-160 online NIV application form is being [...]