With Washington's new visa processing system coming into place on September 26, applicants seeking US Visa hereafter have to seek two appointments-one for biometric collection and the other for interview. The two appointments can be sought either online or by phone. One can also apply to the Consulate for the appointments.  The Consul General of US Embassy in India, Josh Glazeroff told the same to the media recently.

Mr. Glazeroff has also said that the biometric collection will be held at Offsite Facilitation Centre (OFC) whereas interview would take place at US Consulate or Embassy.  Also he said, once the applicant gets the finger prints, it would take at least 30 to 40 minutes to complete the processing of visa application. Further he said, visa related queries would be taken from 11 am to 1 pm every Friday on Facebook Chat. He has even mentioned that US Visa processing would be simplified with online facility to pay the visa fee. It may be noted that fee for working visa is $190 while it's $160 for business visa.

(AW Phani)