Addressing the issues of visa backlogs, and recalling President Joe Biden’s order to reduce the visa time for Indians, the Ambassador of the United States to India, Eric Garcetti said that the challenge is heard “loud and clear” and added that he is proud of the work done in just one year to reduce the visa wait time by three quarters.
For those applying for US visa in India, they are about-face, a longer waiting period. As the US has opened its doors to those who have been vaccinated, the US Embassy in India is anticipating a significant rise in visa applications. Therefore, it has sent a preliminary alert to all applicants saying that there will be a longer waiting time for some non-immigrant visa categories as it builds back from COVID-19-related interruptions.
iNDICA NEWS BUREAU- As good news to thousands of visa applicants to the US, the Biden administration has lifted a regulation that allowed immigration officers to reject visa applications (including the H1-B) instead of first issuing a notice of intent to deny to the applicants. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has formally removed […]
iNDICA NEWS BUREAU- For many Indians having the United States as their dream country to be in is slowly diminishing. The credit could go to Trump’s administration, who was instrumental in introducing a slew of regulations to keep off many aspirants trying to get a taste of the American Dream. According to data released by […]
iNDICA NEWS BUREAU- A US district court judge has issued a preliminary injunction to stay the proposed board fee increase for a wide variety of visa applications. After many backlashes against the hike of fees for US visas, Judge Jeffrey White, a district court judge for the Northern District of California has stayed the proposed […]
iNDICA NEWS BUREAU- In a move that could help Indian IT professionals and those working in the healthcare sector, the Trump Administration has announced certain exemptions in H-1B and L-1 travel ban for those continuing employment with the same employer. On 12th August 2020, the U.S. Department of State (DoS) issued guidance on “National Interest […]
iNDICA NEWS BUREAU- Every cloud has a silver lining. When Trump passed on his new visa regulations last Tuesday, many dreams and hopes came crashing down in the Indian side. Families got separated, aspirational youths’ ideas of the future were lost, and notedly India’s tech industry was left rattled. Social media was filled with stories […]
Arul Louis (IANS)- Three Indian-origin high-tech consultants have been arrested and charged with H1-B visa fraud in a California federal court, according to US officials. Kishore Dattapuram, Kumar Aswapathi and Santosh Giri were charged with allegedly submitting fraudulent H1-B visa applications for non-existent jobs, according to federal prosecutor David Anderson. A citizen’s panel known as […]
US Consul General Melinda Pavek recently inaugurated the relocated Visa Application Centre in Kolkata in eastern India. She said the US’ relationship with India is very important.
“Our relationship with India is important. And facilitating people-to-people connections is at its core,” Pavek said.
US Marine CH-53E ‘Super Stallion’ made its maiden landing at Naval Air Station at INS Dega, Visakhapatnam as part of the ongoing India-US joint exercise ‘Exercise Tiger Triumph’. The India-US naval exercises are being held at the Kakinada Coast, as part of the ongoing sea phase of Bilateral HADR Ex Tiger Triumph 2024 in the Bay of Bengal. The exercise is aimed at bolstering cooperation between the countries.
Amit Kumar Sharma and his team are busy. This year, they processed 700,000 visa applications in the US alone. As the head of American operations at Visa Facilitation Services Global (VFS Global), Sharma’s responsibility is to keep the wheels of visa protocols and processes running smoothly. It’s not easy, of course, considering VFS is one of the world’s largest organizations in its category, working with 67 partner governments across 140 countries.
US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Monday joined the Embassy’s consular team to interview over 1,000 visitor visa applicants, according to a press release from the US Embassy. The US Embassy in New Delhi had the first of its four “Super Saturday” visa processing events, which were planned for 2024 and the US envoy came to assist the embassy team.
H-1B workers, including Indian nationals, can begin applying to renew their visas without leaving the US, marking a significant change after nearly two decades. Up to 20,000 qualified nonimmigrant workers can renew their H-1B visas domestically.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has said that it has received enough petitions to reach the cap for the additional 20,716 H-2B visas made available for returning workers for the first half of the fiscal year 2024 under the H-2B supplemental cap temporary final rule (FY 2024 TFR).
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has hiked the premium processing fee for H-1B visa applications. USCIS announced that it will increase the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, to adjust for inflation.
Indian professionals in the US have some reason to cheer – the White House has okayed a pilot program allowing H-1B visa holders to renew their visas without leaving the US. To begin with, 20,000 H-1B specialty occupation workers will be able to renew their visas in the US beginning from January 2024.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Thursday that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally-mandated cap for the most-coveted H-1B visa for the fiscal year 2024. This includes the 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap as well as the 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption, commonly referred to as the master’s cap.
In a move likely to benefit Indian professionals, 20,000 H1B specialty occupation workers will be able to renew their visas in the US beginning from January next year, according to State Department officials. This development comes months after the White House announced a pilot program for domestic renewal of certain categories of H-1B visas during the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June this year.
The US Embassy and its consulates in India have issued an all-time record of over 140,000 student visas between October 2022 and September 2023. “Our embassy and consulates in India issued an all-time record of more than 140,000 student visas,” the US State Department announced on Tuesday. “From October 2022 through September 2023 (the 2023 federal fiscal year), the Department of State issued a near-record level of nonimmigrant visas of more than 10 million globally.”
The US Departments of Labor and Homeland Security have announced an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas for FY 2024. This allotment is in addition to the Congressionally-mandated 66,000 H-2B visas that are available each fiscal year, and permits employers to temporarily hire non-citizens to plug worker shortages in the US.
US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Monday visited the US mission in the national capital New Delhi to oversee the “unprecedented demand” for US visitor visas among the Indians.
The US Mission to India said on Thursday that it has reached and surpassed its goal to process one million non-immigrant visa applications in 2023. Stating that Indians made over one in 10 visas worldwide, the Mission said it has already surpassed the total number of cases processed in 2022 and is processing almost 20 per cent more applications than in pre-pandemic 2019
The US Consulate General in Mumbai has eliminated the visa backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and said that the applicants can schedule their appointments for immigrant visa interviews within the standard time frame, informed the US Consulate General Mumbai press release.
Nearly 70 Indian nationals have filed a lawsuit against the US government for denying them H-1B visas because of fraud committed by their employers, a report by Bloomberg Law said. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied the Indian graduates H-1B specialty occupation visas despite their subsequent employment at legitimate businesses, a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Washington state said this week.
In a move that could benefit Indians, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will hold a second random lottery selection from the previously submitted H-1B visas for fiscal 2024. In March this year, the USCIS conducted an initial random selection on properly submitted electronic registrations for the fiscal year 2024 H-1B cap, including for beneficiaries eligible for the advanced degree exemption.
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