US Consular Offi cial denies visa fee hiked on H1B

CHENNAI: Chief of Consular Services at the US Consulate Chennai Nicholas Manring on Thursday denied reports on hike in fee for H1B visas. Talking to reporters here, he said H1B fee charged by the Department of Homeland Security was not increased. “The news reports that the fees for submitting H1B petitions have increased are, in fact, untrue. The fees are the same as they were last year,’ he added. Mr Nicholas also said there were no current plans to change the fee. He said for regular visa fees charged by the Department of State, “we are required by law to recover the cost of processing visas through the collection of visa application processing fees. ‘The Department of State reviews those costs annually, worldwide and adjusts fees for all visa services up and down according to that review.” He said there was no set schedule and this could happen at any time. “The last change in our visa fees was on July 13, 2010”, he added. On Indians applying for visas, he said as of today, the Consulate in Chennai has processed 57,218 visa applications and an overwhelming majority has been issued. He said last week a pilot program was launched with all the other US Consulates and by the US Embassy in India, to waive the actual interview. “This is for people renewing visas, primarily for tourist and short-term business travel visas, renewing within 48 months of expiration for B1/B2 visas. ‘This allows people to present their application and passport at the Consulate, have their photograph and fi ngerprints taken, but many will not have to then go on to be interviewed”, he said Mr Nicholas said US Consulate Offi cers might still call an applicant in for an interview if they had any questions. “But our aim is to have applicants in and out of the Consulate as soon as possible,’ he said. He said the waiting time for visa interviews has been brought down to fi ve days now.