State Department to End Visa Revalidations

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Catherine Barry announced at the Annual Conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that applications for visa revalidations (for classifications C, E, H, I, L, O and P) will no longer be accepted by the Department of State (DOS) after July 6, 2004. AILA has been informed that the cut-off date has now been changed to July 16, 2004, but that an exception will be made for applications pending at that point for which additional information has been requested.

The ostensible rationale for terminating visa revalidations is that DOS lacks the capacity domestically to acquire the biometric identifiers all visas will be required to contain as of October 26, 2004. Ms. Barry further stated that DOS has no current plans to revive the revalidation service that allowed foreign nationals to obtain new visa stamps inside the United States without having to file the application at a U.S. Consulate abroad.

AILA has urged DOS to retain the revalidation service, which remains valuable despite a significant increase in processing times, rejections and denials, and is developing ideas on how to do so. However, while AILA plans to work in coalition with other business groups to bring pressure to bear on the agency, it is not optimistic than DOS will change its mind any time soon. Expect implementing regulations within the next 10 days.

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