The pilot program for domestic renewal of certain categories of work visas this month. For the H1B visa renewal, people need not go to their home country and they can do it within the country. However, with this program, the spouses can’t do the same thing.
For this pilot program, the US State Department officials announced a limited roll-out of 20,000 participants to renew their visas. Under this program, the visa applicants have to mail their visas to the State Department and are prohibited from traveling outside the country. However, the selection process for the 20K candidates has not been revealed yet.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Julie Stufft said that they are looking to expand the roll-out number in 2024. As this is a pilot program, the dependent visas are not included in it, and depending on the success of this program, further changes will be made.
