H-1B Stateside Visa Renewal Pilot Program Launches in January 2024

The State Department (DOS) announced today that it will launch the Stateside Visa Renewal Pilot Program for certain qualified H-1B visa applicants to renew their visas domestically in the United States.  They have capped the number of H-1B visa applications they will accept to approximately 20,000.  The pilot program will run from January 29, 2024 through April 1, 2024, and will open approximately 4,000 visa application slots for each of the first five weeks of the program. 

Participation in the pilot program is limited to H-1B visa holders who were issued visas from Mission Canada between January 1, 2020 through April 1, 2023, or Mission India between February 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021.  Applicants also must have submitted ten fingerprints to DOS in connection with a previous visa application; have an approved and unexpired H-1B approval notice; show their most recent admission to the US was in H-1B status; not have a “clearance received” annotation on their previous H-1B visa; and do not require any waivers of inadmissibility to enter the US.   

The location limitations for the program are implemented to address the performance and capacity of the contractors who handle the majority of the DOS’s worldwide visa processing. Additionally, the DOS has limited the pilot program to H-1B holders, in an effort to help US employers whose H-1B employees may need to travel abroad and risk delayed return due to visa processing times. 

Immigration lawyers and other key stakeholders have been advocating for a stateside visa renewal program for years, due to growing delays in consular processing and visa appointment wait times. This pilot program presents an amazing opportunity for thousands of H-1B workers in the United States, and demonstrates the Department of State’s willingness to improve the efficiency of visa processing. It is our hope that the pilot program’s success will lead to the implementation of an expanded and modernized stateside visa renewal program for all nonimmigrants and their families.  We will continue to monitor the visa renewal program and keep you updated. 

The government’s full announcement can be found here.

The alert is for informational purposes only. Please contact us if you would like to discuss these developments further.