US visa rules: No third-country visa option, Indian students to face long wait time; check details 

The US Department of State has brought a major change in its global visa appointment policy for non-immigrant categories, rolling back the Covid-era flexibilities. 

Non-immigrant visa (NIV) applicants, including Indians, will now be required to schedule their interview appointments exclusively in their country of citizenship or legal residence. This eliminates the route for third-country appointments, a door widely used by Indians to skip long waitlists. 

Indians applying for US visitor or student visas through a third country like Thailand or Vietnam to go through the process quickly must now do it only in India. 

"Effective immediately, the Department of State has updated instructions for non-immigrant visa applicants,” the US Department of State said on Saturday, September 6. 

“Applicants for U.S. nonimmigrant visas (NIV) should schedule their visa interview appointments in the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in their country of nationality or residence,” the department stated. 

This immediately ends the workaround that lets many Indians go to other countries that have a shorter interview queue to get their visa, as wait time in India sometimes goes up to 20 months. 

Who will be affected?

Indian applicants for all major US non-immigrant visas will be impacted by this, including: 

• B1/B2 (Business and tourist)
• F1 (Student)
• H-1B, O-1 (Employment)
• J (Exchange visitor)

Under the new rules, applying from outside your resident country could lead to rejection. Applicants must furnish proof of legal residency in the country from which they apply. 

These rules can disrupt travel plans for many Indians and other non-immigrant visa (NIV) applicants. The US has also said that exceptions will only be allowed in limited circumstances where a country has no functioning US visa operations. 

“Nationals of countries where the U.S. government is not conducting routine nonimmigrant visa operations must apply at the designated embassy or consulate, unless their residence is elsewhere,” the department said, providing a list of designated locations for Nonimmigrant Visa Processing. 

Applicants who have already started their application process abroad will now be forced to refile in India, leading to higher expenses and longer delays.

As per reports, visa wait times earlier this year ranged from 3.5 months in Hyderabad and Mumbai to 5 months in Kolkata, and in Chennai, and went up to 9 months. 

Interview waivers

The interview waiver programme, which allowed certain applicants to skip in-person interviews, has also been tightened. 

On September 2, the US State Department removed most of the non-immigrant visa interview waivers. Children under 14 and adults above 79 must now appear for in-person interviews, and Indian students applying for F and M visas are required to attend consular interviews mandatorily. 

Moreover, the Department of Homeland Security has proposed ending the existing ‘duration of status’ system, which allows students to stay in the US for as long as the program requires. Now, students could be issued a fixed-term visa with a cap of four years, and those who need more time would be required to apply for extensions with additional paperwork and extra fees.