The Issue
On July 25, 2025, the U.S. State Department announced that it will begin scaling back the eligibility standards for nonimmigrant visa interview waivers, effective September 2, 2025.
As of that date, most nonimmigrant visa applicants, including applicants under the age of 14 and over the age of 79, will require an in-person interview with a consular officer before their visa may be issued.
A Deeper Dive
For many years, visa applicants with no apparent eligibility or inadmissibility issued were allowed to obtain reissuance of their previously approved nonimmigrant visa without attending an in-person interview with a consular officer. Typically, the previous visa was either still valid or had expired within a specified period. This policy was widely perceived as mutually beneficial as it allowed applicants to obtain a new visa without the time, expense and inconvenience of traveling for a nonimmigrant interview while at the same time enabling consular officers to prioritize more complex applications.
As State Department resource limitations negatively affected consular interview scheduling, the qualifying period in which the visa must have expired was extended, eventually allowing visa interviews to be waived if the prior visa had expired within 48 months of the application date. However, in February 2025, the State Department reverted to the statutory requirement that the prior visa must have expired within 12 months of the application date.
The policy change effective September 2nd will require an in-person interview for nearly all nonimmigrant visa applicants, with only a narrow exception for B1/B2 (or Mexican Border Crossing Card) renewals within 12 months of the prior visa expiration, as long as the applicant was at least 18 at the time the prior visa was issued and is applying in their country of nationality.
Most applicants for reissuance of diplomatic or government official visas, such as A-1, A2, C-3 (except attendants, servants, or personal employees of accredited officials), G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO-1 through NATO-6, or TECRO E-1 visas, remain eligible for visa interview waivers.
What this Means for Employers and Employees
Individuals with previously approved visas in the E-1, E-2, F-1, H-1B, J-1, L-1, O-1categories will no longer be eligible for an interview waiver. As a result, visa appointment backlogs and processing delays will continue to worsen, particularly at high volume consular posts. Processing a visa renewal at a third country consular post may become more difficult as available interviews become rarer and are prioritized for residents of the consular district.
Before making travel plans, applicants should check the relevant consular websites regularly for the latest information about post-specific visa application procedures.
Should you have any questions about nonimmigrant visa interview procedures in light the new State Department interview waiver policy, please contact your Meltzer Hellrung professional.
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