The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has confirmed through liaison with the Chief of the Visa Office Visa Revalidation Unit that the Visa Office will no longer revalidate C, E, H, I, L, O and P visas due to DOS inability to gather biometric data on applicants. The Department of State website (http://travel.state.gov/revals.html) should be updated shortly to reflect this change in policy.

The cut off date for receipt of visa revalidation applications is 5:00 PM on July 16, 2004. This means that any new application must be received at the St. Louis drop box building by that time and date. Physical receipt of the application is required for timely filing; an application postmarked on July 16 will NOT be accepted for processing.  Revalidation applications received after the cut off date and time will be rejected and returned to applicants unprocessed.  After the July 16, 2004 cut off date, ONLY applications pending with the Department will be processed. Any requests for additional information or responses on security clearances must be received by September 30, 2004, in order for the applications to be processed.

As a point of reference, the visa revalidation program permitted certain foreign nationals in the C, E, H, I, L, O and P nonimmigrant categories to renew their visas by mail with the State Department U.S. Visa Office in Washington D.C. rather than through a U.S. consulate abroad.  To qualify for visa revalidation in the U.S., foreign nationals had to be in valid C, E, H, I, L, O or P nonimmigrant status and they must have been previously issued a visa at a U.S. consulate abroad and admitted to the United States in the same status they are maintaining.  In addition, the Visa Office only revalidated visas submitted sixty days prior to their expiration and within one year after their expiration date. With the termination of the visa revalidation program, foreign nationals must apply for visas at U.S. consulates and embassies abroad.

We believe that the cessation of the visa revalidation program will lead to a large increase in the number of individuals applying for visas at the U.S. Consulates. This increase will most likely translate into even more delays at the Consulates. Please keep in mind that all visa applicants are subject to security checks which lead to processing delays of several weeks to several months or more. Therefore, individuals applying for visas and their employers must be prepared for potential delays on returning to the U.S. All travel should be considered in light of the fact that individuals may not be able to return to the U.S. in the planned for time frame. This will impact employers and families. Please also keep in mind that when a visa application is delayed due to security checks/concerns, there is no avenue for relief or to other wise speed up the processing of the visa application. Congressional representatives and agency personnel have repeatedly advised that they are not willing to make inquiries on these types of cases.

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