Last Updated on: February 9, 2022 On December 23, 2021, the U.S. Secretary of State in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security made an announcement that expands the scope for visa interview waiver for certain individual petition based non-immigrant visas. The key takeaways from this announcement are listed below. Temporary Relaxation of Eligibility within…

On October 25, 2021, the U.S. President Joe Biden released the much-anticipated proclamation titled “A Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, which came into effect on November 8, 2021, and ended the travel restrictions imposed under P.P. 9984, 9992, 10143, and 10199, suspending entry into the United States…

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 issued an Emergency Use List (EUL) to  India’s indigenously developed vaccine – COVAXIN (developed by Bharat Biotech). With this approval, COVAXIN is the eighth COVID-19 vaccine validated by WHO for the prevention of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2. This press release can be found here. Millions…

In January this year, we had reported the U.S. Department of State’s decision to extend the Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fee until September 22, 2021. The U.S. Department of State extended the validity of Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fees until September 30, 2022. Recently, the U.S. mission in India has notified that the MRV fee will be extended until September 30,…

With countries opening their borders, it is important to link the passport with COVID-19 vaccination. COWIN is the web portal owned and operated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. This interactive website keeps track of India’s COVID-19 vaccination program. Amongst other things, this website keeps a record of the vaccination…

On October 25, 2021, the U.S. President, Joe Biden released the much-anticipated proclamation titled “A Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. This presidential proclamation (P.P.) comes into effect on November 8, 2021, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, just after midnight and ends the travel restrictions imposed under P.P. 9984, 9992, 10143,…

On September 20, 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that travel restrictions imposed on foreign nationals entering the United States will be relaxed, starting November 2021. Our readers are aware, that earlier this year, President Biden had further tightened the travel restrictions put in place by President Trump and restricted entry into the United States…

In March 2021, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony J Blinken, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), had temporarily expanded the ability of consular officers to waive the in-person interview requirement for individuals applying for a non-immigrant visa in the same classification within 48 months of the expiry of the prior visa.…

The USCIS issued a policy update on September 14, 2021 pertaining to the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for medical examinations required by the USCIS. This update requires applicants subject to the immigration medical examination to complete the COVID-19 vaccine series (one or two doses, depending on the vaccine) and provide documentation of vaccination to the civil surgeon…

U.S. consular posts in India are currently processing H and L visa applications for applicants eligible for the National Interest Exception (NIE) as detailed here. Dropbox eligible H / L applicants should present documentation to establish eligibility for the NIE at the time of submitting the documents at the Visa Application Centre, failing which their applications…