US drops in-person interviews for certain visas including H1-B as Covid cases rise

Amid growing concerns of surging Covid-19 cases, the US has announced that it will waive the in-person interview requirement for a range of visa applicants in 2022, including for H-1B workers and students, many of whom are from India.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

Also watch: US allows automatic job authorisation for spouses of H-1B visa holders

The Department of State on Thursday announced that consular officers are now temporarily authorised, through December 31, 2022, to waive in-person interviews for certain individual petition-based non-immigrant work visas and their qualifying derivatives in the following categories: Persons in Specialty Occupations or H-1B visas, Trainee or Special Education Visitors or H-3 visas, Intracompany Transferees or L visas, Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement or O visas, Athletes, Artists, and Entertainers or P visas, and Participants in International Cultural Exchange Programmes or Q visas.

Embassies and consulates may still require an in-person interview on a case-by-case basis and dependent upon local conditions.