
Travel warning for Green Card, H-1B, F-1 visa holders: Don't leave the country unless absolutely needed
Kripa Upadhyay, a Seattle-based immigration attorney, told TOI's Lubna Kably, “As heartless as this may seem, foreign nationals (especially those needing renewal of H-1B or F-1 visa stamps) really need to think twice about leaving the US right now.”
The US Department of State recently changed eligibility requirements for interview waiver or «dropbox» appointments. Earlier, anyone who had been issued a non-immigrant visa (except B visitor visas) could apply for a waiver if their visa expired within 48 months. Now, dropbox is limited only to applicants renewing the same category of visa that expired within the last 12 months.
Upadhyay explained that international students with an F-1 visa who now need an H-1B visa must wait for a regular interview slot. Similarly, if an H-1B visa holder's previous visa expired more than 12 months ago, they are not eligible for dropbox and must also wait for an interview.
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Snehal Batra, managing attorney at NPZ Law Group, told TOI, “Delays due to visa appointment availability is only part of the concern. We know of individuals who are stuck in administrative processing for no apparent reason other than additional scrutiny and security clearances. This should not have happened, if the individual has been previously approved for a visa multiple times. I think we can expect to see ‘extreme vetting’ similar to the tenure of the earlier Trump administration.”
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Attorneys are also warning that even after an H-1B