In a August 2020 press release by the U.S. Department of State indicates that as consular posts worldwide resume operations depending on local conditions, priority would be given to K visas. It is important to note that K-1 petitions are approved with validity of four months. If the applicant was unable to apply for the K-1…

The U.S. Consulate General, Chennai in a tweet dated June 6, 2021 has updated that their office is cancelling all routine non-immigrant visa interview appointments, interview waiver appointments and routine American Citizen service appointments until June 11, 2021.  The post will continue to offer emergency appointments as permitted by local conditions. The post will try…

Readers may be aware the U.S. consulate in Mumbai processes all immigrant visa applications in India. In a recent update, the U.S. consulate, Mumbai has notified that they will resume processing of all Immigrant visa applications from today, June 7, 2021.This includes the following: Rescheduling of cancelled immigrant visa appointmentsSB-1 (Returning resident application)Boarding foilRe-issuance of…

In a recent update, the United States Department of State has notified that U.S. citizens (USC) who are currently abroad and seeking to return directly to the United States may do so using an expired passport if certain conditions are met.To take advantage of this temporary relief, the U.S. citizen with the expired passport must fly…

A recent tweet by the U.S. consulate in Chennai indicates that all routine services, regular non-immigrant visa appointments, interview waiver appointments and routine American Citizen Services appointments are cancelled through June 4, 2021.  The tweet also updates that the post will make every attempt to honor scheduled emergency appointments. The Chennai VAC will be open…

Given the pandemic, interviews will be very limited at the consular posts in India when they resume services. If one requires an appointment for the interview in a local language and no local language appointments are available, one should select the option for an appointment in the English language and later on, request a translator…

President Biden on April 30, 2021 signed a proclamation suspending entry of certain persons who pose risk of transmitting COVID-19.Since India has a sudden surge of COVID-19 over the past few weeks, this proclamation suspends entry of certain non-immigrants / non-citizens of the United States who were physically present within the Republic of India during the…

The Indian Government vide Ministry of Home Affair’s notification no. MHA’s O.M. No. 25022/28/2020 dated 30.03.2021 has restored e-Visa for the following categories with immediate effect: • e-Business Visa• e-Medical Visa •e-Medical Attendant Visa and• e-Conference Visa List of countries whose nationals are eligible for e-Visa facility can be found here. We will continue to monitor and…

We reported that the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai has limited operations to emergency services and U.S. visa applicants, both immigrant and non-immigrant have started receiving communication regarding cancellation of appointments. Following this, we noticed today that B1/B2 applicants have started receiving cancellation emails for their in-person appointments. There is no official press release on this…

The U.S. consulate in Mumbai has tweeted that with immediate effect, the U.S. consulate in Mumbai will provide only essential services until further notice. This comes at the wake of increase in COVID-19 cases in India. Some Immigrant and Non-Immigrant visa applicants who have an appointment scheduled with the U.S. consulate in Mumbai will be…