On September 27, the US Embassy and Consulates in India declared on its website that they could not accommodate all travellers before their planned travel dates, even if the purpose of travel is time sensitive due to the high volume of visa requests.

The embassy stated that if one intends to apply for a non-immigrant visa to reach the United States as a temporary visitor, he/she must examine the current wait time for an interview utilizing a tool on the website since the demand is extremely high.

The embassy said that due to decreased staffing and multiple pandemic-related disturbances to operations since March 2020, appointment demand for visas is increased across all categories, and delay times may be longer for most standard non-immigrant visa appointments at the embassy in New Delhi and the consulates in Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

The embassy continued processing routine in-person B1 and B2 visa appointments this month. And these are not placeholder appointments.

The embassy indicated that the Department of State allowed consular officers to renounce the in-person interview needed for specific classifications of visa applicants until December 31, 2022.

This new authorisation applies to visitors applying for F, H-1, H-3, H-4, non-blanket L, M, O, P, Q, and educational J visas, who were issued any sort of visa and if they are registering or applying for a visa from their country of nationality. Judging consular officers may request an in-person interview if extra details are needed from applicants.

Applicants renewing any visa within 48 months of expiration continue to be eligible for an interview disclaimer. On the other hand, the US Department of State/Travel.State.Govt website noted that embassies and consulates might have a different procedure for visa cases where the in-person interview condition is waived.

As per the information, in general, wait times for those cases are shorter, but applicants should go through the individual embassy or consulate website to distinguish if their case is eligible or qualified for a waiver of the in-person interview.

The US Embassy informed many visa applicants have settled the fee for visa application processing and are yet waiting to schedule a visa appointment. Hence, it is working assiduously to revitalize all routine visa procedures as fast and safely as possible.

The US Mission will lengthen the validity of their payment (MRV fee) until September 30, 2023, in order to allow all applicants who were unable to schedule a visa appointment as an outcome of the suspension of routine consular operations a chance to attend and schedule a visa appointment with the already paid fee.

About the Drop Box appointments, the embassy said consular sections across India are taking an inflexible and limited number of applications for renewals of H, L, C1/D, O, I, F, M, and J visas. Applicants must visit the website in order to check and decide whether they are qualified for dropbox processing and schedule an appointment for document drop-off or not.