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Longer Wait time for Nonimmgrant Visa Interview Appointments in India

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December 10, 2017

With the holiday season fast approaching, we notice that as of this writing, nonimmigrant visa interview appointments are not available until January 2018 across the U.S. consular posts in India. Subscribes to our bulletin and regular readers are aware that the nonimmigrant visa interview dates are generally available within two weeks at any time across…

Non-applying relative or guardian accompanying nonimmigrant visa applicant(s) in India

December 4, 2017

In general, a non-applying relative or guardian cannot accompany the nonimmigrant visa applicant(s) into a U.S. consulate or embassy in India. However, there may be instances where the applicant is unable to attend the visa interview alone due to medical inability. If the non-applying relative or guardian’s presence is required, s/he must contact the respective…

Valid U.S. Nonimmigrant Visa on Previous or Expired Passport

December 4, 2017

We at Murthy Immigration Services receive calls regularly to confirm if one has to apply for a new visa when s/he has renewed her/his passport that has a valid U.S. visa. In most cases, one has to apply for a new passport if the previous one is expired or if there are no blank pages…

Reissuance/issuance of duplicate OCI registration certificate and visa is necessary in the following circumstances

November 6, 2017

Reissuance/issuance of duplicate OCI registration certificate and visa is necessary in the following circumstances. A registered OCI may avail these services through OCI Miscellaneous Services, available online: Issuance of new passport; For an applicant who is 20 years of age or younger, OCI documents must be reissued each time a new passport is issued; For…

Reapplying for a U.S. visa after a prior visa rejection – paying the non-immigrant visa fees

November 6, 2017

At Murthy Immigration Services Pvt. Ltd (MISPL), we often get inquiries about how soon a person with a prior visa refusal can qualify to reapply for a visa, in either the same or a different visa category. In general, applicants refused under Sec. 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) can reapply for a…

Reminder – Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card holders to obtain machine readable Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cards, in lieu of the existing hand-written PIO cards

November 6, 2017

We have already provided an update on the merger of PIO and OCI effective January 9, 2015, to our readers. In our Murthy India Bulletin of July 2017, we had published an important update on the conversion of PIO Cards to OCI Cards without payment of consular fees. In this article, we bring to the…

September 24, 2017 – U.S. presidential proclamation on visas

October 2, 2017

A U.S. presidential proclamation issued on September 24, 2017 imposes certain restrictions on the entry of nonimmigrants and immigrants who are nationals of eight countries, namely Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. Based on a global review conducted, the information sharing practices of these seven countries were classified as “inadequate” and…

Changes in rescheduling a nonimmigrant visa interview/appointment(s) in India

October 2, 2017

At Murthy Immigration Services Pvt. Ltd (MISPL), we often get inquiries from persons seeking to cancel or reschedule a nonimmigrant visa interview. In a recent development, we have observed that the option to reschedule the visa interview through the portal is disabled 24 hours prior to the appointment for biometrics. Prior to this, applicants could…

Procedure to apply for Global Entry Verification

In early July 2017, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that citizens of India can enroll in the Global Entry Program (GEP), thereby making India as one among only eleven countries whose citizens have the privilege of expedited immigration clearance. Pre-approved low-risk travelers could present their machine-readable passport or U.S. permanent resident card, place their fingerprints on the scanner for fingerprint verification, and complete a customs declaration at Global Entry kiosks at selected U.S. airports. To be pre-approved, all applicants are required to undergo a rigorous background check and in-person interview before enrollment. In a recent update on the website of Indian embassy in Washington D.C., the procedure to apply for GEP through the Global Online Enrollment Systems (GOES) is explained as a simple three step process:

GEP applicant should apply and complete the application submission process through GOES of the CBP.
After completion of Step ‘1’ as above, the applicant should submit the requisite information along with applicable fee of Rs.500/- in the Passport Seva Portal for background verification in India. Applicants must also mandatorily visit the respective Passport Seva Kendra (PSK)/Passport Seva Laghu Kendra (PSLK) in India in person for completing formalities such as capturing of biometrics (fingerprints), photograph, in-person interview etc. The visit to the PSK/PSLK should be made only after fixing prior appointment.
If the applicant is currently not in India, s/he should apply for GEP membership at the CBP site at a date close to his India visit, so that the India side of the application submission process is completed during her/his visit.

This update can be found here. It is up to the discretion of the CBP officials to select travelers for further examination when entering the U.S. If the CBP finds any violation of the program’s terms and conditions, it can revoke global entry privileges and enact appropriate enforcement action

DS-160 – Nonimmigrant Visa Application Form to Be Submitted Within 30 days From the Date of Creation

September 4, 2017

Nonimmigrant visa applicants may be aware that submitting form DS-160 (online nonimmigrant visa application) is the first step in the visa application process. The form can be created and accessed at the U.S. Department of State’s consular electronic application center’s website. While creating the form DS-160, the applicants must note the unique application ID and…