Be careful! Your US visa application may expire even after you've paid (2024)

Allowances that were made to help travellers during the pandemic are now being rescinded by the United States. One such move was the extensions of visa application validities.

"Check your receipt! If you paid your visa application fee before October 1, 2022, and have not scheduled an interview yet, book now," the US Embassy in India issued a warning this week.

Certain extensions were granted during the pandemic, but these extensions expire September 30, it added.

Visa applicants typically have 365 days from the date of payment to schedule an appointment before the payment expires.

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If you paid your fee prior to October 1, 2022, you must schedule an interview (or submit your interview waiver application, if you are eligible) before September 30, 2023.

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If you don’t, you may have to pay the fee again.

The interview itself does not need to take place before September 30, 2023, the Embassy clarified, but an appointment must be scheduled in the system, even if it is for months into the future.
The United States has constantly been in news since the pandemic, for impossibly long wait times - the longest going up to three years. However, in recent months, visa wait times have gone down considerably, with the the US Embassy in Mumbai saying it had no wait time at all.

Last month the Embassy said it had processed over 9 lakh non-immigrant visas and expected to pass the one million mark soon.

India and the United States have been working to ease the visa process. In June, PM Modi announced a plan that would let H-1B visa holders renew their visas without having to travel out of the country. The US will also be opening two new consulated in the country - one in Bengaluru and the other in Ahmedabad.

More than 1.5 lakh Indians have visited the United States so far in 2023, the US department of commerce’s International Trade Administration data showed. Indians were the second largest overseas visitors to America, next only to the UK, during this peak summer travel month of June — despite sky-high airfares and visa processing backlog.