Visa News

Important Notice To Visa Applicants

Next Monday, April 30, the Consular Section will be closed, as well as on Tuesday, May 1. We will reopen for normal business on Wednesday, May 2.

Expedited Visa Renewal Pilot Program

Effective January 19, 2012, certain visa applicants meeting the requirements below may utilize the new procedure to renew their visa. The program applies to the following visa categories:

B1/B2 (Business/Tourism) Visa Applicants:

• Who have a previously issued B1/B2 visa which is either still valid or has expired within the last 48 months and have been interviewed after January 1, 2008.

Visa applicants with the age of 80 or more are also entitled to use this program.

F, J*, M (Students and Exchange Visitors) Visa Applicants:

• Who have a previously issued F, J*, or M visa which is either valid or has expired within the last 48 months, have been interviewed after January 1, 2008, and will continue participation in the same program or attendance at the same institution as in the previous visa.

*(Does not apply to Summer Work Travel. See Below.)

C1/D (Crew Members) Visa Applicants:

• Who have a previously issued C1/D visa which is either still valid or has expired within the last 48 months and have been interviewed after January 1, 2008.

Please note that:

• Visa applicants who changed their name after marriage/divorce are not eligible for this program. They will have to come to the visa interview.
• J Summer Work Travel visa applicants are not eligible for this program. They will have to come to the visa interview.
• If your previous passport with a U.S. visa was lost/stolen, and you meet all requirements for the visa renewal program, please submit a police report stating that your passport was lost/stolen, in addition to the required documents.

Visa applicants wishing to take advantage of this service should ensure they send their application and supporting documents to the Embassy by mail/courier services, or drop them off Monday through Thursday between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm. All passports will be returned to the applicant via Sameday Courier as quickly as possible. When submitting your application and supporting documents, please allow time for the mail/courier service and the adjudication by a Consular Officer. Please note that we reserve the right to call applicants for an in-person interview for any reason deemed necessary by the adjudicating Consular Officer.

The entry registration period for DV-2013 has ended. The online registration period for the 2013 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2013) began at

Important notice!

Effective August 15, 2011, petitioners residing overseas will no longer be able to routinely file Forms I-130,Petitions for Alien Relative, with U.S. Embassies and Consulates except in locations where U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has a public counter presence within the Embassy or Consulate. Petitioners residing overseas in countries where USCIS does not have a public counter presence will be required, starting August 15, 2011, to file their Forms I-130 by mail with the USCIS Chicago lockbox. U.S. Embassies and Consulates that do not have a USCIS presence will only be able to accept and process Forms I-130 in exceptional circumstances.

For more information please visit our website.

Adjusted Fees for Immigration Benefits Go Into Effect on November 23, 2010

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a final rule on October 23, 2010 adjusting fees for immigration applications and petitions. The final rule follows a period of public comment on a proposed version of the rule, which USCIS published in the Federal Register on June 11, 2010. After encouraging stakeholders to share their input, USCIS considered all 225 comments received. The final rule increased overall fees by a weighted average of about 10 percent but did not increase the fee for the naturalization application. The rule also reduced fees for six individual applications and petitions and expanded the availability of fee waivers to new categories. The final rule was published in the Federal Register on September 24, and the adjusted fees will go into effect on November 23, 2010.

Please visit USCIS - Adjusting Fees for Immigration Benefits for more information and for the new Schedule of Fees effective on November 23, 2010.

Important notice!

Effective November 1st, 2010 the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania will no longer process immigrant or fiance(é) visa applications of Moldovan citizens or residents except for the DV applications. The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania will continue to process all DV visa applications for Moldovan citizens and residents.

The U.S. Embassy in Chisinau, Moldova will start processing all IV immigrant visa categories and all K fiancé(e) applications for Moldovan citizens and Moldovan residents, except for the DV category, Diversity Visa Lottery applications on November 1, 2010.

Notice for Immigrant Visa Applicant

Changes to the Schedule of Fees for Consular Services will take effect on July 13, 2010.  The twenty-seven adjusted fees are based on a Cost of Service Study completed by the Bureau of Consular Affairs in June 2009.  The study, which was the most detailed and exhaustive ever conducted by the Department of State, established the true cost of providing consular services to U.S. and foreign citizens, which by law must be recovered through collection of fees.

Immigrant visa application processing fees and other immigrant visa services fees will change on July 13, 2010, and immigrant visa application processing fees will be tiered.  There will no longer be one single visa application fee for all immigrant categories.  Some fees will increase, while others will decrease.

Applicants will have to pay the full fees in effect on the day they apply, with the exception of applicants whose fees are collected by the National Visa Center (NVC).  Applicants whose fees are collected by NVC, both prior to and after July 13, 2010, will be required to pay only the fees in effect on the day they are billed.  Applicants billed by NVC at the current rate prior to July 13, 2010 will not be required to pay the difference between the current and the new fees.
 
Please visit the Department of State’s website for the New Consular Fees in effect as of July 13, 2010.

Effective January 4, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CCD) has removed HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection from the list of diseases that can keep people who are not U.S. citizens from entering the United States.

For more information on the medical examination for immigrants and refugees please see:
http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/exams/medical-examination.html