Integrity Legal

Those who read this web log with any frequency may have noticed that the administration tries to post the holiday closing schedules of many of the US Embassies and US Consulates in Asia. This is done in an effort to forestall possibly fruitless trips to a closed US Embassy observing either an American or foreign holiday. The following is the holiday closing schedule of the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India as quoted directly from that Embassy’s official website:

Date	Day	Holiday	Type
December 31,  2010*	Friday	New Year’s Day	American
January 17	Monday	Martin Luther King’s Birthday	American
January 26	Wednesday	Republic Day	Indian
February 21	Monday	Washington’s Birthday	American
April 22	Friday	Good Friday	Indian
May 30	Monday	Memorial Day	American
July 4	Monday	Independence Day	American
August 15	Monday	Independence Day	Indian
August 22	Monday	Janamashtami	Indian
August 31	Wednesday	Idu’l Fitr	Indian
September 5	Monday	Labor Day	American
October 6	Thursday	Dussehra (Vijaya Dashami)	Indian
October 10	Monday	Columbus Day	American
October 26	Wednesday	Diwali	Indian
October 27	Thursday	Govardhan Puja	Indian
November 10	Thursday	Guru Nanak’s Birthday	Indian
November 11	Friday	Veterans’ Day	American
November 24	Thursday	Thanksgiving Day	American
December 6	Tuesday	Muharram	Indian
December 26**	Monday	Christmas Day	American

*    in lieu of January 1, 2011 (Saturday)
**  in lieu of December 25, 2011 (Sunday)

Those seeking services such as the issuance of a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, US  Passport, or additional visa pages for a previously issued American passport are well advised to contact the American Citizen Services Section of an American Mission abroad. In  many cases, Americans seeking such services can make an appointment in advance. Making an advance appointment can greatly facilitate the processing of requests as Consular Officers are provided with an opportunity to foresee the customers needs when an appointment is made in advance. In order to make an appointment online one may be required to register an appointment on the US Mission’s official website.

Those seeking the homepage of the official website of the United States Embassy in New Dehli, India should click HERE.

Those seeking visas such as the US Tourist Visa (B-2 visa), US Student Visa (F-1 visa), US Exchange Visitor Visa (J-1 visa), or the US Business Visa (B-1 visa) may be required to process their visa application through a Non-Immigrant Visa (NIV) Unit at a US Consulate abroad. In many cases, such applications are scrutinized pursuant to section 214b of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act which can create difficulties for those applicants who cannot show “strong ties” to India and “weak ties” to the United States of America.

Those Indian Nationals with Lawful Permanent Residence or American Citizens wishing to obtain an IR-1 visa or a CR-1 visa for an Indian loved one will likely be required to process their visa application through an Immigrant Visa Unit abroad. Unless it is possible to execute a Direct Consular Filing for such a visa, it is likely that such a visa application would only be adjudicated after the initial adjudication of an immigration petition at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). For application processing purposes it should be noted that the K1 visa, although a non-immigrant US fiance visa, is generally treated  in much the same manner as an immigrant visa application.

Those Indian Nationals seeking an EB-5 visa for immigrant investment purposes or an L-1 visa for an intracompany transferee are generally required to process an immigration petition at USCIS prior to visa application abroad.

For related information please see: K1 Visa India.

Tags: 214(b), American Embassy India, American Embassy New Delhi, American Visa India, B-1 Visa India, B-2 Visa India, CR-1 Visa India, EB-5 Visa India, F-1 Visa India, IR-1 Visa India, J-1 Visa India, K-1 Visa India, K1 visa India, L-1 Visa India, US Embassy India, US Embassy India Holidays, US Embassy New Delhi, US Fiance Visa India, US Marriage Visa India, US Tourist Visa India, US Visa India, USA Visa India, USCIS
Posted in US Embassy India, US Embassy New Dehli | No Comments »

Those American Citizens with Indian husbands or wives often research issues surrounding the US K-3 marriage visa category in an effort to make informed decisions about American travel documentation. Although the term “K-3 visa” has become a common buzzword used as a colloquial synonym for US Marriage Visa on the World Wide Web, the K-3 category was not always the widely utilized travel document for Indian-American couples reuniting in the United States as the Immigrant visa categories often referred to as CR-1 and/or IR-1 visas were once the only travel documents available to the spouses of American Citizens wishing to take up residence in the USA (note: the IR-1 visa category predates the CR-1 visa category as conditional lawful permanent residence status has not always been imposed upon foreign spouses of US Citizens married less than 2 years).

There was a rather significant backlog of Immigrant visa petitions at the agency now commonly referred to as the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) when the K3 visa category was created by Congressional legislation sometimes called the “Life Act” which was signed and executed by President William Jefferson Clinton prior to leaving office toward the end of his term (the K-4 visa, similar to the K2 derivative visa attached to the K1 visa, was a derivative visa category also created by the “Life Act” to be utilized by the children of an Indian K-3 spouse).

Currently, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service does not have the backlog that it once had of Immigrant spousal visa petitions. As a result, the K-3′s utility has been increasingly marginalized as the estimated processing time for CR-1 visa petitions and IR-1 visa petitions has decreased. Relatively recently, the American State Department’s National Visa Center (NVC) promulgated the policy that K-3 visa applications would be administratively closed if and/or when the adjudicated immigrant visa petition arrives at NVC before or with the supplemental K-3 visa petition. This policy has likely lead to some Indian-American married couples to seek Immigrant visa benefits rather than K-3 visa benefits as “administrative closure” precluded further processing of the K-3 visa petition and application.

Those interested in the K3 visa process or the Immigrant visa process are well advised to research all options prior to making any irrevocable decisions. Furthermore, those seeking immigration advice and/or representation should check the credentials of those claiming expertise in American immigration matters as only licensed American attorneys may practice American immigration law pursuant to U.S. law.

Fore related information please see: K3 Visa India or K1 Visa India.

Tags: American Immigration India, American Marriage Visa, K-1 Visa India, K-3 Visa, K-3 Visa India, K1 visa India, K1 Visa Process, K3 Visa, K3 Visa India, K3 Visa Process, US Immigration India, US Marriage Visa, US Visa India, USA Marriage Visa, USA Visa India
Posted in CR1 Visa, IR1 Visa, K1 Visa, K2 Visa, K3 Visa, National Visa Center, US Consulate Chennai, US Consulate Hyderabad, US Consulate Kolkata, US Consulate Mumbai, US Embassy India, US Embassy New Dehli, US State Department, US Visa, US Visa and Immigration, USCIS | No Comments »