US waives in-person interviews for several visas for Indians

Washington: The United States has relinquished in-person interviews for many visas, including students and workers, an American diplomat informed. The waiver is applicable for students (F, M, and academic J visas), workers (H-1, H-2, H-3, and individual L visas), Culture and extraordinary ability (O, P, and Q visas), PTI reported.

Assistant Secretary of State for South Central Asia, Donal Lu, said that the US Department of State is authorised to waive in-person interview requirements for certain applicants and their qualifying derivatives in various non-immigrant visa classifications through December 31, 2022.

The US State Department said that applicants seeking the mentioned visa classifications must satisfy the conditions that they had a US visa of any category issued before, have never got refused a US visa or have no indication of ineligibility.

The US Embassy in Delhi announced that its consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, along with itself, will release more than 20,000 additional waiver appointments for Spring 2022.

During a meeting with Dona Lu, Ajay Jain Bhutoria, South Asian Community Leader and US President Joe Biden's Advisor for Asian Americans, told the former to increase people-to-people relationships between the US and India, stressing the importance of close cooperation of India and US in South Central Asia. He said that both the nations are strong democracies and provide leadership in the Asia Pacific region.

Both discussed the many contributions Indian American diaspora brought and its influential role in economic growth startups and establishing businesses.