ISLAMABAD: The United States, on Thursday, announced the expansion of interview waiver eligibility for Pakistani citizens who are renewing B1/B2 tourist and business visas, a move welcomed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari who also thanked his American counterpart Antony Blinken.
“The United States Mission in Pakistan is pleased to announce the expansion of interview waiver eligibility at the US Embassy in Islamabad and the US Consulate General in Karachi for Pakistani citizens who are renewing B1/B2 tourist and business visas,” the US Embassy here said.
“All Pakistani citizens, regardless of age, whose B1/B2 visas are valid or have expired within the last 48 months are eligible to participate. Previously, only Pakistani citizens of ages 45 and older were eligible to participate. Additionally, interview waiver eligibility for student and petition-based work visa applicants who have previously held a US visa is also extended through 2023,” it further stated through a statement.
It added that the expansion of interview waiver eligibility is a procedural change to provide better customer service and more efficiently process renewals of tourist and business visas for qualified and eligible Pakistani citizens. “As required by US law, some eligible visa holders may be required to appear at the US Embassy or US Consulate General for interviews after submission of their applications,” it added.
“Applicants may visit our website at https://www.ustraveldocs.com/pk/pk-niv-visarenew.asp to determine if they are eligible for an interview waiver. Applicants who are now eligible for interview waiver, but are currently scheduled for an interview, may cancel their appointment online, start from ‘New Application’ on the scheduling dashboard, and follow the steps online for submitting through interview waiver,” according to the statement.
“Please note that the only authorized courier service locations for interview waiver submissions are listed here: https:// ustraveldocs.com/pk/pk-loc-documentdropoff.asp. We expect processing time to average four weeks,” it added.
Foreign Minister Bilawal welcomed the US government’s decision, saying that it will increase the people-to-people contacts between the two countries.
“Thank you Secretary Blinken, we have discussed visa issues at length. Allowing interview waivers for those who have already in the past held US visas across all age group is extremely helpful. This should speed up visa process and will increase people to people ties,” the foreign minister stated in a tweet.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023