The U.S. Embassy & Consulates in India have announced that they have added additional interview waiver eligibility for US visa renewal for travelers who have “clearance received” or “department authorization” listed on their previous visas. If your previous visa has either of these two statements listed, you can now use the interview waiver process to apply for a new visa!
This is great news as it allows more visa applicants to use the interview waiver program, which allows the applicant to bypass the in-person interview and use the dropbox method instead. The dropbox method allows the applicant to simply drop off their paperwork to be processed and has much quicker wait times than in-person interviews.
Hopefully, this will also help aid in bringing down visa appointment wait times as it will allow for more applicants to use this new eligibility to skip an in-person interview.
In addition to this new eligibility, the following applicants are also eligible to renew their visa through the interview waiver program:
- Applicants renewing any visa in the same category within 48 months of expiration
- This applies to visas: F, H-1, H-3, H-4, non-blanket L, M, O, P, Q, and academic J visas who were previously issued any type of visa, if they are applying for a visa in their country of nationality or residence.
- This does not apply to applicants who have a previous refusal that wasn’t waived or overcome in some way.
Those who are applying through the interview waiver process should allow up to three weeks from when their passport is accepted at the Visa Application Center (VAC) until they receive their passport back or are notified that it is ready for pickup.
New Nonimmigrant Visa Application Fees
If you are planning on applying for a nonimmigrant visa in the near future, be sure to take note of the new fee change that will take into effect on May 30, 2023.
The application fee for visitor and certain other nonimmigrant visa categories will be increased from $160 to $185.
The application fee for certain petition-based nonimmigrant visas for temporary workers, including H, L, O, P, Q, and R visas, will also increase from $190 to $205.
You will only be required to pay the new increased fee if you pay for your visa application fee after May 30, 2023.
For more information on the visa fee hike up, see our latest blog post on the subject.
