As part of the visa application process at Embassies, applicants are subject to a background screening process. In accordance with Department of State (“DOS”) procedures the consular officer may determine that “additional information from sources other than the applicant may help establish an applicant’s eligibility for a visa” requiring “administrative processing.”
Read moreThe Nonimmigrant Visa Interview - What to Expect
One of the fastest changing areas of immigration law has been the consular nonimmigrant visa application process. What used to be a one-page application and a fairly routine mail-in process has now become an eight-page online form and a fairly rigorous interview process. Where consular officers used to engage with lawyers about their clients’ visa applications, consular officers are now shielded by layer upon layer of administration. Where consular officers used to review papers presented at the interview as part of their adjudication, they now rely more and more on individual applicants articulating the merits of their cases. Certainly some of the new measures are justified but what it means for individual visa applicants is that they will need to carefully prepare their DS-160 visa application form and be prepared for their interview. We have already addressed some of the idiosyncrasies of the DS-160 form, so in this post we hope to provide some simple tips and guidelines for the interview.
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