U.S. visa applicants in India were originally permitted to choose their preferred language for a visa interview at consular posts while scheduling a visa appointment. Since the COVID-19 lockdown, U.S. consular posts in India have been attempting to resume pre-covid levels of visa operations and in these tough times, visa applicants have been finding it increasingly difficult to schedule their visa interviews in their preferred local language.

In May 2022, we reported on the procedure to schedule a language interview under the current circumstances.

In a welcome move, with effect from late August 2022, the online appointment scheduling system has been modified to allow an applicant to schedule an appointment in English and request a translator while attending the consular interview. The option to choose a preferred language of interview at the time of booking the appointment is no longer available. Applicants must request a translator at the commencement of the interview. If an applicant fails to do so, the consular officer may, by default, conduct the interview in English.