What steps will the Consulate take in such cases? I received a 221(g) after my H-1B visa interview in February 2021. For example, your Aadhaar card could be used to cross check data and establish your identity. If your certificate cannot conclusively identify you with multiple reference points that match your passport it is important to carry additional government issued, identity proof with your photo. Will this certificate be acceptable for travel to the U.S.?Īirlines have been instructed to verify the authenticity of vaccination certificates. However, my vaccination certificate does not contain my date of birth. I have been fully vaccinated as per the CDC guidelines. In addition, you must have a negative RT-PCR test or similar taken within 72 hours of travel before you will be allowed to board a flight for your journey to the U.S. Please note that you should have been vaccinated with CDC or WHO approved vaccinations. Hence you would have to wait until at least Novemto travel to the U.S. you need to be fully vaccinated two weeks prior to the date of travel to the U.S. Am I qualified to travel to the U.S.?Īccording to the CDC guidelines, to travel to the U.S. I have received both my vaccinations with the last one being on November 1, 2021. NIEs are redundant and the need for NIEs is superseded by CDC’s guidance on travel for fully vaccinated foreign nationals. I have a National Interest Exception (NIE) stamp in my passport, but I have received only one vaccination. You only need a visa if you leave the U.S. you do not need a visa to continue to remain there on an approved H-1B petition or similar situation. It is best to reconsider your travel requirements as with the huge backlogs even getting drop box appointments could be difficult. I want to come to India, will I get a visa stamp in time to return to the U.S. Otherwise, it might be cancelled.Ĭurrently, I am in the U.S. If you have an appointment that you booked several weeks ago you should look at rescheduling or requesting an expedited appointment if you think you qualify for one. If the applicants did not request or qualify for an emergency or expedited appointment the “place holder” appointments were cancelled. These appointments were “place holders,” that are required to request emergency or expedited appointments. Now they will begin scheduling interviews for the other categories as well.Īppointments for non-immigrant visas that were scheduled for late December and January have been cancelled. Until now they were scheduling interviews only for those who were not subject to any travel ban under the various Presidential Proclamations. Consulate in Mumbai processes immigrant visas for the whole of India and a majority of the staff there is dedicated to processing immigrant visas. What about immigrant visas? How do you plan to process the backlogs for these?
Appointments for B-1/B-2 visas that do not qualify for the drop box option may be delayed further. When will you open appointments for B-1/B-2 visas?Īppointments for B-1/B-2 drop box applications will become available late in November and through December for appointments in January and February 2022. It will be some time before we resume visa services for the B-1/B-2 categories. However, we are going to open up appointments for H, L and other non-immigrant visa categories as well and these will be available from January 2022 onwards. Hence, a large number of visa slots will be opened up for students. We are expecting a surge in student applications in November and December for the spring semester that starts in January. Student visas continue to be processed as and when necessary. When will you complete processing student visas and begin services for other visa categories? However, you should expect extended delays in the forthcoming months as we still have to comply with local COVID-19 related regulations pertaining to social distancing and brief health checks. We are dealing with huge backlogs and are putting in all efforts to process visas as soon as possible. Visa services have resumed since several months but are subject to some local restraints and practical limitations.