The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision on June 15, 2015, in Kerry v. Din, a case that involved the doctrine of consular nonreviewability. Consular nonreviewability protects the decisions of U.S. consular officers, including approvals and denials of visa applications, from review by U.S. courts....
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that all visa-issuing embassies and consulates are fully functioning, as of June 26, 2015. This marks the end of a worldwide shutdown of visa issuance that began on June 9th. The DOS estimates that the accumulated backlog of visa...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is making significant progress toward resolving the technical problems that were preventing visa issuance. As of this writing, 39 consular posts are reconnected to the biometric clearance system. The list of these consulates, which include Chennai, New Delhi and...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) reports that progress has been made toward restoring the visa issuance systems. DOS updates state that 22 consular posts have been reconnected to the biometric data processing system, and work continues to reconnect more consular posts.The most recent update...
A technical failure at a U.S. Department of State facility in the United States has now resulted in visa "stamps" being unavailable worldwide. As a result of this technical failure, U.S. consulates are unable to conduct the required security checks of visa applicants - a...
As previously explained, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has temporarily suspended premium processing for certain H1B petitions, from May 26 through July 26, 2015. In announcing the suspension of this service, the USCIS noted that this would only apply to cases "…requesting an extension...
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is experiencing technical problems that are causing delays in issuance of U.S. visa "stamps," as well as some U.S. passports. DOS advises that the problems are not limited to any specific country or visa category.The visa delays are the...
Officials with the U.S. Department of State (DOS) met with representatives from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) on April 15, 2015, to discuss various topics related to visas. Some of the key issues discussed included visa revocations, misrepresentations by minors, and immigrant visa wait...
Effective April 1, 2015, the U.S. embassy and consulates in India will be retiring the Business Executive Program (BEP). This program, which was created in the 1990s, was a U.S. government effort to facilitate business travel through registration and recognition of established companies. BEP Service Benefits The...
As previously reported to MurthyDotCom readers, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a notice of request for information (RFI) in December 2014, seeking input from the public on ways to improve the nation's immigration system. Accordingly, the...
