New procedure to delay US visa

Those planning to get their US visas renewed under the non-immigrant categories (H,L,O,P and Q) should brace themselves for some delay.

A recent US Department of State (DOS) directive to the US consular posts now requires consulting an electronic record for visa issuance in these categories.

However, those who have already visited US or had H1-B visa and want to renew it might face additional delay (over and above 48 hours) as their details might have not been forwarded to the Kentucky Consular Centre (KCC).

The new changes were announced in the first week of December 2007 and took many consuls by surprise. Petition Information Management Services or PIMS record will serve as the primary evidence for petition approval under the above-mentioned categories.

Under PIMS, every consul must see information of an I-129 petition (meant for non-immigrant workers) on the system before issuing a visa. The notifications are sent to KCC after approval by USCIS.

KCC enters key data from the petition into PIMS and scans key documents, such as the I-129 form, employer support letter and identification documents of the beneficiary. It also performs some database checks, searching for evidence of fraud, violations or other adverse history and records, before putting its findings in PIMS.

While the wait is usually for 48 hours, in some cases it might go up to a few days. For instance, an employee of a US-based company was interviewed for his H1 renewal on December 6, 2007. While the visa was issued within few minutes, the person's passport came in only on January 3, 2008.

Cyrus Mehta, Attorney at Law, Cyrus D Mehta and Associates, said: "While this might not affect the IT companies going in for H1-B visas, it could delay issuance of visa for those who are coming to India and planning to get their passports stamped again."

A leading IT firm also agreed with what Mehta said: "We did see a small amount of delay in one case, otherwise the process has been quite smooth. Yes, those who are coming to India for a renewal of H1 visa might have to face a delay as their details might not have been uploaded on the systems."

Advocate Sdhir Sha felt that the delay might happen is some cases. "It is a new system and will take some time to be streamlined," he said.

While IT firms are gearing up for the April 1, 2008 deadline to file H1-B visas, many also feel that like 2007, this year too H1-B visas will be issued through a lottery system.

Lawyers and experts are already anticipating that the applications will exceed the 65,000 cap and the additional 20,000 Masters H1-B visa cap.