Stateside Visa Renewal Pilot Program Expected to Begin in Early 2024
On October 17, 2023, the Department of State (DOS) submitted the draft Federal Register notice “Pilot Program to Resume Renewal of H-1B Nonimmigrant Visas in the United States for Certain Qualified Noncitizens” to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs’ Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Although details of the stateside visa renewal pilot program have yet to be published, it is expected that the program will allow H-1B nonimmigrants to renew their expiring visas domestically in the United States rather than traveling abroad to apply at a U.S. consular post/embassy. The concept of a statewide visa renewal program is not new. The DOS previously had a domestic visa revalidation program that allowed nonimmigrants to renew their visas by mail with the DOS US Visa Office in Washington D.C. instead of through a US consular post or embassy outside the United States. This program however was discontinued in 2004 due to security requirements implemented in response to the events of September 11th.
Eligibility to apply under the DOS’ proposed stateside visa renewal pilot program is expected to be extremely limited in order for the DOS to test and address any operational issues in processing visa renewal applications before it can expand the program. Based on information obtained by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the pilot program will be limited to 20,000 H-1B principal applicants only, who are nationals of countries that are not subject to reciprocity fees, and the eligibility requirements will be similar to those of the nonimmigrant interview waiver program at US.consular posts/embassies. The pilot program is expected to begin sometime in early 2024 after review and clearance of the proposal by the OMB.
What this Means for Our Clients
The return of a stateside visa renewal program is certainly welcome news for both employers and employees. It will allow eligible employees to renew their visas within the United States instead of having to take time off from work to travel abroad to apply for visa renewal at a U.S. consular post/embassy. Furthermore, the reintroduction of a stateside visa renewal program will likely ease consular workload and visa processing delays. This may result in shorter wait times for nonimmigrant interview appointments, which would be very beneficial to applicants in certain countries where the wait time to get an appointment at the U.S. consular post/embassy can be up to 60 days.
We will continue to monitor the status of the DOS pilot program and will provide updates as information becomes available.