The U.S. Department of State (DOS) rules require every nonimmigrant visa applicant between ages of 14 and 79 to apply in person and be interviewed by a consular officer (see 9 FAM 403.5-2 , the “FAM”). But there are certain specific exceptions [...]
Earlier this afternoon the Department of State (DOS) shared the Federal Register notice with details of the highly-anticipated stateside visa renewal pilot program which will begin on January 29, 2024 and will end on April 1, 2024. We [...]
A U.S. visa stamp refusal under “administrative processing” means that the U.S. Consulate is unable to approve and issue the visa stamp immediately and needs additional time for review of the application or other [...]
Update August 26, 2020: USCIS has called off the scheduled furlough. See update. Update July 24, 2020: USCIS has announced that they have agreed to delay the start of the staff furlough until August 31st (from August 3) due to funding estimates showing surplus for the fiscal year and not the previously-projected $571 million deficit. [...]
The U.S. Embassy in Russia has announced that starting August 23, 2017, all nonimmigrant visa (NIV) operations across Russia will be suspended. Beginning September 1, 2017, nonimmigrant visa interviews will be conducted only at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and interviews at the St. Petersburg, Yekaterininburg and Vladivostok will be cancelled. What is the Reason [...]
There has been a tremendous amount of discussion and comment on President Trump's executive order banning certain travelers from the seven countries; however, one provision of the executive order which has a significant impact on many visa holders from all countries is the suspension of the interview waiver program (commonly called "dropbox") which allows visa stamp [...]
In response to the changed H-1B petition amendment requirements following the Simeio decision, the U.S. State Department has circulated a cable to U.S. Consulates worldwide with specific guidance to consular officers on how to address H-1B visa stamping petitions where there is change of employment. While the cable does not create new policies, it specifically [...]
With the end of the year quickly approaching, many of our clients will travel abroad during the Holiday season to visit their homelands and will need to renew their current U.S. visas. We would like to remind our Indian clients and friends about the Interview Waiver Program (IWP) which allows some qualified individuals to apply [...]
Foreign nationals who are in the U.S. on a nonimmigrant status are aware (we hope) that normally they need to have a valid U.S. visa stamp in order to reenter the U.S. after a trip [...]
In an important (and surely welcome by many) announcement, the National Visa Center (NVC) has announced that as of November 12, 2014, they would no longer start requiring and collecting original civil documents in support of immigrant visa (green card) cases. Most applicants will simply need to submit photocopies of the applicable required civil documents [...]
