Chennai's New Student Visa DropBox and DropBox Fee
Posted Nov 02, 2001

Effective November 1, 2001, certain student visa applications at the U.S. consulate at Chennai, India are now eligible for the dropbox procedure. Fees for the dropbox service have also changed.

F-1 Student Visas Via Dropbox  The student dropbox criteria are as follows:

a) must be entering a four-year undergraduate program, or a Master's or Doctorate degree program; and

b) must have a scholarship or assistantship that covers at least 50% of the total expenses for the first year, as indicated on the Form I-20.

The financial requirement is rather stringent, so it seems likely that the majority of F-1 visa applications will continue to require personal interviews.

Fee Changes for all DropBox Applications  The new fee, from November 1, 2001, is Rs. 300 per passport for the dropbox through TT Services. The new fee is being charged at all the South India locations: Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. The Chennai Consulate suggests applicants consult the TT Services website for more information on the dropbox procedure,.

The Chennai consulate website, contains a wealth of information on the requirements for the various types of visas.