Visa Renovation Procedures

There are a few key reasons why you may want to make changes to a Visa that you have been issued in the United States. For example, you may seek to try and renew a Visa that is set to expire in the near future, such as a temporary Work Visa or a Student Visa. If you’re keen to extend your current stay in the United States. To discover the process that you have to go through in order to renew your current Visa or to make adjustments to it, simply continue reading.

Extending Your Temporary Visa

The only way to extend a non-immigrant Visa is to go through the entire Visa application again. This means that you’ll need to submit a full Visa application and any supplementary evidence to the USCIS. Once again your petition will be transferred to your nearest foreign U.S Embassy or Consulate, which will then contact you to schedule an in-person interview.

Do keep in mind that while the majority of applicants who have already held a U.S Visa will need to go through a second in-person interview but that there are exceptions. So it’s well worth visiting your U.S Consulate or Embassy’s website to request more information on whether or not you’ll be required to fly to their location, to go through another interview, or not. Depending on the type of legal document which you are looking to replace, you may be able to skip your interview, in which case your new document will be sent directly to your address in the United States.

Renewing Or Replacing Your Non-immigrant Visa Is Possible In The States?

Unfortunately, if you are looking to replace a non-immigrant Visa such as a Tourist Visa, a temporary Work Visa, or a Student Visa, you won’t be able to request a replacement from within the United States. Instead, you’ll be required to go back to the original Consulate or embassy which issued your Visa overseas in order to try and extend or replace your Visa.

As you’ll be required to attend an in-person interview at the consulate or embassy in question, you’ll need to be prepared to pay for your travel costs to and from the US embassy or consulate that first issued your Visa. Please keep in mind that even if your Visa is approved, you won’t be reimbursed for your travel costs, which are your responsibility alone.

Exeptions

There is however one exception to this rule, if you are a diplomat who is working in the United States, you will be able to apply for new Visas for yourself and your spouse and your dependents, while you’re still in the United States. The primary reason why there is an exception for diplomats is that it would provide a huge inconvenience to foreign diplomats if they were made to travel outside of the United States in order to alter their Visas.

Replacing Your Green Card

It’s a lot easier to replace your Green Card as a permanent resident in the United States than a temporary Visa. If you wish to replace a Green Card that is set to expire in the near future, you can apply for a new card through the USCIS, just be mindful that you’ll need to pay an application fee. While some Green Cards expire after 10 years, some Green Cards don’t have an expiry date.

You Can’t Apply For A New Visa In The U.S If Your Visa Is Misplaced Or Stolen

Even if you simply misplaced your Visa or you have had your Visa stolen through no fault of your own, you will need to travel overseas in order to replace your Visa. Before you book an appointment for an interview with your foreign U.S Embassy or Consulate, you must first report your Visa lost or stolen. To do this, contact a police station in the specific state that you last saw your Visa. At this time the police officer that you deal with, will create a written report about the loss of your Visa.

Make sure to request a copy of this report, as you’ll need to send it to the foreign US consulate or embassy, to prove that you have reported your legal document missing. At this point in time, your Visa will be cancelled and you won’t be able to use it, even if you later find your legal document safe and sound in your home.

If You Changed Your Name

If your name has changed since you received your Visa, it’s a wise move to arrange for a brand new passport and a new Visa. As in order to travel in and out of the United States, you must travel into the country with legal documentation that matches your legal name. So regardless of whether you’ve recently changed your legal name due to a life-changing event such as getting married or filing for divorce, applying for a new Visa with your new name on it is a wise idea. As you will encounter difficulties entering the United States if you ever leave the country if you try to reenter the country with a Visa with your old name on it.

However, do keep in mind that replacing your Visa if your name has been changed is only a recommendation from the Department of State. So if you don’t foresee yourself traveling outside of the United States in the near future, you can hold off from requesting a new Visa, until you know that you need to travel overseas. Traveling outside of the country to go through an interview at a foreign Embassy or Consulate will set you back thousands of dollars.

Conclusion

There are a few key reasons why you may want to make changes to your current U.S Visa. You may have changed your legal name and may want to change the name on your Visa, you may have lost or misplaced it or your Visa may be set to expire in the near future and you may want to petition for an extension. If so, it’s well worth requesting extra information from an experienced attorney in order to fast-track the alteration of your Visa.

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