After many years of service, the Revalidation Division
of the US Department of State will discontinue its domestic revalidation
service for E, H, I, L, O, and P visas due to enhanced border
security requirements.
THE DIVISION WILL CLOSE
TO NEW APPLICATIONS ON JULY 16, 2004. ALL APPLICATIONS
FOR VISA REVALIDATIONS IN THE E, H, I, L, O, OR P CATEGORIES MUST
BE RECEIVED IN THE ST. LOUIS PROCESSING OFFICE ON OR BEFORE JULY
16, 2004.
Applications and supporting documentation received
after July 16 will be returned.
Applications for visa revalidation following a
221(g) refusal and requests for corrections must be submitted
to the Revalidation Division in Washington no later than September
30, 2004.
New applications will continue to be processed
in the order in which they are received. All information in the
sections below on the revalidation process remains valid.
Section 303 of the Enhanced Border Security and
Visa Entry Reform Act requires the Department of State to collect
a biometric identifier (fingerprint) from all non-diplomatic visa
applicants.
The Department of State encourages all applicants
to apply for new visas in their home countries:
"If you are not traveling to your home country,
you may apply at a U.S. visa processing post in Canada and Mexico
provided you have made a visa interview appointment. You may also
apply at a U.S. visa processing post in a third country provided
you have made an interview appointment. You should understand
that if there is a delay in visa issuance, you may need to spend
more time overseas than you originally planned. Information on
U.S. visa processing posts and their visa interview appointment
systems is at http://usembassy.state.gov.
A business associate, friend, or relative may need to make the
visa interview appointment for you. We have directed our visa
processing posts to give priority to applicants who would have
benefited from our domestic visa revalidation service."
Notification of the discontinuation of domestic
visa revalidation services was published in the Federal
Register on June 23, 2004.