Category: DOS

The Department of State has waived fees for applications (i.e., machine-readable visa) and visa issuances (i.e., reciprocity) for certain participants in the 2014 Special Olympics Summer Games Invitational taking place in Los Angeles, California, from June 6 to 8, 2014, and the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games taking place in Los Angeles from July… Read More

The Department of State recently emailed J-1 exchange visitor sponsors to announce that it plans to conduct on-site inspections of J-1 internships and training programs. The visits may be both planned and unannounced. J-1 inspectors may want to speak with responsible officers, supervisors, employees, trainees, and interns, and to inspect facilities, housing, and health insurance… Read More

The Department of State’s Visa Office has projected changes in some employment cut-off dates. The December 2013 Visa Bulletin notes that the India employment second and third preference category cut-off dates advanced very rapidly at the end of fiscal year 2013. Those movements were based on the availability of thousands of “otherwise unused” numbers that… Read More

The Department of State has updated the visa reciprocity tables. Among other things, the Department recently updated the document section for Somalia; updated police records information for Croatia; and added same-sex marriage certificate information for South Africa and Spain. 

The Department of State recently sent a cable to all diplomatic and consular posts providing guidance and describing the timeline for deployment of the new electronic DS-260 (Immigrant Visa Application) and DS-261 (Choice of Address and Agent), which replaces the paper-based DS-230 (Application for Immigrant Visa Registration, parts I and II) and the DS-3032 (Choice… Read More