Department of State Announces Waivers of the Interview Requirement for Certain Nonimmigrant Visas

December 25, 2021
×Close
The Secretary of State has authorized consular officers through the end of 2022 to waive the in-person interview requirement for certain temporary employment nonimmigrant visa applicants who have a petition approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.   This new authorization applies to temporary workers applying for H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q visas who meet certain conditions, including that they are applying for a visa in their country of nationality or residence.  Under this authority, consular officers have discretion to waive the visa interview requirement for individual petition-based H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q applicants who were previously issued any type of visa, and who have never been refused a visa unless such refusal was overcome or waived, and who have no apparent ineligibility or potential ineligibility. For the first-time individual petition-based H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q who are citizens or nationals of a country that participates in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), provided they have no apparent ineligibility or potential ineligibility and have previously traveled to the United States using an authorization obtained via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) are also eligible for interview waivers. In addition, the Secretary extended previously approved policies to waive the visa interview for certain students, professors, research scholars, short-term scholars, or specialists (F, M, and academic J visa applicants) through the end of 2022.   One change to the previous policy is that applicants eligible for the waiver authority, because they are citizens or nationals of a VWP participating country, must have previously traveled to the United States using an authorization obtained via ESTA to qualify.  Applicants must apply for a visa in their country of nationality or residence.    

Related News

VIEW ALL
How Trump is quietly rewriting US immigration policy

USCIS has just announced that they are now extending the suspension of CAP subject H-1B petitions all the way until February 19, 2019.

Philadelphia jury convicts phony attorney

USCIS has just announced that they are now extending the suspension of CAP subject H-1B petitions all the way until February 19, 2019.

Success Story: EB-1a approved in two weeks

Attorney Mika B. Kozar filed an EB-1 Extraordinary Ability Immigrant Petition for one of the most prominent, accomplished, and forward thinking experts in the field of Enterprise Solutions Architecture, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IOT), and Machine Learning.   The self-petitioned beneficiary is well known in the global information technology industry for […]