State Department Plans to Offer Domestic Visa Renewals

The US State Department will launch a pilot program this year that will offer L-1 visa and H-1B visa renewal options to those requiring to travel outside the United States, as reported by Bloomberg Law.  The stateside renewal option could eventually be expanded to other visa categories.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary for visa services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs has reportedly indicated that reinstating the visa renewal option which was discontinued in 2004 will cut down the workload of the consular posts abroad and will make it easier for visa holders to be able to travel abroad and return to the United States.

This is great news for employers and employees alike, particularly for foreign nationals of countries that are seeing very long visa wait times at the consulates such as India.

The L-1 is a dual intent non-immigrant visa category that allows for the transfer of managerial and executive personnel (L-1A visa) as also specialized knowledge employees (L-1B) from abroad to a related business in the United States.  The maximum stay permissible in the US on an L-1A is seven years, and five on the L-1B.

We at Davies & Associates will be monitoring the situation and provide updates as and when they become available.

By Zeenat Phophalia, Of Counsel, Davies & Associates


This article is published for clients, friends and other interested visitors for information purposes only. The contents of the article do not constitute legal advice and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Davies & Associates or any of its attorneys, staff or clients. External links are not an endorsement of the content.


Relief for Indians as US Mission launches Initiatives to Reduce Visa Wait Times

By Zeenat Phophalia

Most US consulates and embassies across the globe have had major reductions and delays in visa processing owing to tremendous backlogs induced by the pandemic.  The situation in India is no different and perhaps even worse – visa applicants, particularly first-time applicants have been encountering extremely long wait times.  The good news is that the US government has provided some much-needed relief. 

In an effort to cut back the very lengthy appointment wait times, the US Mission to India, on January 21, launched ‘Special Saturday Interviews’ which accommodate applicants who require in-person visa interviews.  Additional slots for appointments are to take place on select Saturdays in the upcoming months.

Also, to counteract the excessively long wait times and increase visa processing capacity, the Mission is implementing remote processing of interview waiver cases for applicants with previous US visas, and bringing in temporary consular officers from Washington and other embassies from January through March this year.  Additionally, its increasing its operating hours through the week to provide more appointment slots.

More than 2,50,000 additional B1/B2 appointments have been released which will significantly reduce the almost two-year wait time that first time applicants have been facing in this visa category.

Reportedly, the US mission in India is expected to be at full staffing and processing visas at pre-pandemic capacity by this summer.  In 2022, Indian posts adjudicated over 8,00,000 nonimmigrant visas including record numbers of both student and employment visas.

D&A will continue to monitor the situation on the ground and the steps the various posts are taking to mitigate processing delays and will update as more information become available.

See also

EB-5 Visas

L-1 Visas

How to apply for an EB-5 visa at the US consulate in Mumbai


This article is published for clients, friends and other interested visitors for information purposes only. The contents of the article do not constitute legal advice and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Davies & Associates or any of its attorneys, staff or clients. External links are not an endorsement of the content.