On May 11, 2022, the Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs, Mr. Don Heflin hosted a Facebook Live session to share important updates on how consular posts across India will prioritize interview appointments for nonimmigrant visa applicants in the coming months. During this live chat, Mr. Heflin stated that F1 visa applicants who had prior student…

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…

On July 26, 2022, the U.S. Embassy in India announced that the Consular Exchange Rate will be revised from 80 Indian rupees to 82 Indian rupees against one U.S. dollar. The current rate will be valid through July 31, 2022. As per the U.S Embassy, this change corresponds to recent shifts in the market exchange…

When a person applies for a U.S. visa (non-immigrant or immigrant), the general rule is that the visa will either be issued, denied or subject to a request for additional information. There are several reasons for a visa denial. Two of the most common denials are (1) Under Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality…

The Biden Administration has suspended COVID testing requirements for international travelers, effective Sunday, June 12, 2022, at 12:01 am ET. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) determined that an international airline passenger will no longer be required to show a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding an international flight to the U.S. The net…