The U.S.’s announces new policy about the waiver of visa interviews
On December 23, 2021, the U.S. Department of State announced an immediate expansion of its policy permitting U.S. consulates to waive in-person interviews for some visa applicants. When granted, the waiver allows qualified visa applicants to apply for their visa by mailing in their passport instead of appearing in person for an interview after the visa petition has been approved by USCIS.
Individuals seeking H-1, H-3, H-4, L, O, P, and Q visas MIGHT be eligible for this interview waiver under the following conditions:
- The individual’s I-129 visa petition has already been approved by USCIS at the time they submit their passport to a consulate;
- The individual…
- has been issued a U.S. visa, in any visa category, at any time in the past, OR
- has traveled to the U.S. at least once before under ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization);
- The individual is applying in their “country of nationality or residence”; AND
- The individual has not been refused a visa in the past (unless such refusal was overcome or waived, and it is assumed that current waiver applicants will not have “apparent ineligibility or potential ineligibility.”)
This announcement is potentially very good news because it gives consular posts new discretion to waive the in-person interview requirement and allow applicants to mail in their documents for visa issuance. However, there is still a lot that we do not know about how this will actually work:
- We don’t yet know how often consulates will choose to allow the mail-in option. Early indications suggest that some may be reluctant.
- We don’t know how long consulates will take to process visas with this mail-in option. Early indications suggest that the processing time at some consulates may be as much as a month.
- We don’t yet know how this will be implemented. So far it does not appear that an applicant can request a waiver of the visa interview; rather applicants must go through the normal procedure of scheduling interviews, and will subsequently be told (either by the online scheduling system or by direct email from the consulate) if the interview requirement has been waived and the applicant permitted to mail in their passport and documents for visa process.
Until we know more about how this will work in practice, individuals should assume that they will need an in-person interview; if the interview is waived and the visa is processed in a timely fashion, consider yourself fortunate!