The U.S. consulates in India have recently altered the method for a visa applicant to appear for a follow-up appointment following a 221(g) refusal. The new process appears to be an improvement over the prior method, which required the applicant to schedule the follow-up appointment...
There has been a shortage of nonimmigrant visa (NIV) appointments at the U.S. consulates in India throughout the ongoing pandemic. This problem has been exacerbated by certain agents who have been booking visa appointments in bulk, and then charging visa applicants for these scarce appointment...
Foreign nationals may be deemed ineligible for admission (i.e. inadmissible) to the United States for a variety of reasons. Common grounds of inadmissibility include the following: medical grounds, criminal grounds, and immigration violations (including fraud or material misrepresentation in connection with an immigration benefit). In...
With the summer travel season upon us, many readers of MurthyDotCom are planning long-awaited trips abroad to visit family and friends. Not in their plans is a problem with the expiration date on the I-94 arrival / departure card upon returning to the United States....
Most foreign nationals in the United States must report address changes to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The legal timeframe for this notification is just ten days. The process is simple and free, and helps to facilitate proper delivery of official notices and...
To apply for a U.S. visa, an applicant must first complete the nonimmigrant visa (NIV) application form DS-160. The next step in the visa application process is to schedule a U.S. visa appointment. An overview of the process of creating a profile, paying the requisite...
The Murthy Law Firm routinely receives inquiries from people who are in the United States and who wish to "sponsor" a friend or family member for a B-1/B-2 visitor visa. The reality is that, ordinarily, one cannot actually be sponsored for a standard B-1/B-2 visa;...
A foreign national who requires a nonimmigrant visa to travel to the United States normally must fill out form DS-160, an online nonimmigrant visa application. Consular officers use the information entered in the DS-160 to process the visa application and determine an applicant's eligibility for...
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a temporary final rule that temporarily increases the automatic extension period of certain employment authorization documents (EADs) while the form I-765 renewal application is pending. Under this temporary rule, rather than extending the validity period of...
Yesterday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would be issuing a final rule to make premium processing available to all form I-140 petitions, and most form I-539 and form I-765 categories. Today, the rule was published in the Federal Register, and...
