The United States Embassy in India has announced that it will be resuming in-person tourist visa appointments starting from September.
“We are resuming routine in-person tourist visa appointments in September 2022. Previously, scheduled placeholders have now been canceled. Applicants whose placeholder appointments were canceled may now re-enter the scheduling system to book regular appointments,” the United States embassy announced in a statement, as reported by the Economic Times.Such an announcement has been welcomed by a large number of families in India who have been waiting for a long period in order to visit their relatives as well as relatives residing in the United States, VisaGuide.World reports. Despite the fact that the United States has been fast-tracking work and study-related visas, all persons who have planned to travel to the US for tourism purposes have been subject to long delays due to the inability to get an appointment anytime this year or even next year. The United States tourist visas, also known as B1 and B2 visas, permit internationals to enter the US territory for tourism purposes, to visit friends and family, or for business purposes. More specifically, through the B2 visa, internationals can enter the US for tourism, pleasure or to visit family and friends, while the B1 visa allows entry for internationals who wish to enter the US for business, contract negotiation, or attending conferences and other business-related events. According to the figures provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been a total of 90,563,041 cases of COVID-19 infection registered in the United States since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak, while a total of 1,021,355 people have died during the same period. The figures provided by WHO also show that as of July 29, a total of 595,655,409 vaccine doses have been administered in the US. Due to the increased number of infections, authorities in the US kept in place strict entry bans which were criticized by authorities in other countries. However, the abolishment of the entry ban last year, as well as the abolishment of the requirement for international air travelers to undergo a testing process within a day before boarding their flights, in June, has helped the travel and tourism sector recover from the damages caused by such preventive measures. Besides, according to the announcement of the US Embassy in India, the Department of State has authorized officials to waive the in-person interview requirement for certain categories of visa applicants.
“The Department of State has authorized consular officers to waive the in-person interview requirement for certain categories of visa applicants through December 31 2022. This new authorization applies to travelers applying for F, H-1, H-3, H-4, non-blanket L, M, O, P, Q, and academic J visas who were previously issued any type of visa, if they are applying for a visa in their country of nationality or residence,” the statement reads.However, it has been clarified that this authorization does not apply to applicants who have a previous refusal that was not waived or overcome.