A significant policy change has narrowed dramatically the interview waiver eligibility. See the updated alert. 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 [...]
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 [...]
The U.S. Consulate in Kingston, Jamaica has announced that effective October 31, 2014, it will restrict the ability of certain (but not all) third-country nationals (TCNs) to apply for and obtain a U.S. visa stamp at the Kingston Consular Section. TCN Visa Stamp Application Restrictions Effective October 31, 2014 Effective October 31, 2014, the U.S. [...]
The Department of State announced earlier today that starting November 12, 2014, the U.S. and PR China have agreed to start issuing longer-term visas for visitors and students. Chinese nationals who qualify for a B-category nonimmigrant visa (NIV) may now be issued multiple-entry visas for up to 10 years for business and travel. Qualified Chinese [...]
Effective September 12, 2014, the Department of State is changing the visa processing fees. Some of the fees will increase, while some will decrease. For example, the fees for K nonimmigrant visa applications will increase. On the other hand, most immigrant visa processing fees will decrease (some by a substantial amount). Nonimmigrant Visas The Department [...]
We are getting updates from the U.S. Department of State and from other sources that the global visa processing system used by the Department of State to process U.S. visa applications and passports is experiencing technical problems -- as a result, U.S. Consulates around the world are unable, at least temporarily, to complete visa application [...]
The Department of State (DOS) has just confirmed that due to increasingly heavy demand by Canada-based visa applicants, the seven U.S. visa processing posts (U.S. Consulates) in Canada are extremely limited in their ability to accept TCN cases during the peak demand period of June, July, and August. TCN refers to "third-country nationals" or non-Canadians [...]
The Department of State (DOS) has provided a number of interesting observations and statistics about the processing of visas at each of the U.S. Consulates in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. The reported information is as of late November 2013 but most of it is not time-sensitive and we believe remains current as of today. [...]
The Department of State ("DOS") routinely publishes the denial rate for B-1/B-2 visitor visas for each fiscal year (October 1 to September 30). The fiscal year (FY) 2012 data has been published and we share it with our clients and readers. It is interesting to note the countries with the highest and lowest denial rates. [...]
