The U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) announced on January 14, 2026, that it is indefinitely suspending immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries. This new directive, which becomes effective on January 21, 2026, marks a significant [...]
Effective as of September 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) requires all nonimmigrant visa (NIV) applicants to schedule their interview appointments at the U.S. Embassy [...]
Starting September 2, 2025, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) are narrowing the interview waiver policy and eligibility, effectively ending the interview waiver (aka “dropbox”) for the vast majority of visa applicants. This means that as of September 2, 2025, most U.S. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
