United States Will Soon Turn Your Visa Paperless: Promising outcomes have been observed in the pilot project experiment, as visitors have successfully navigated the process, especially for immigrant visas.
Due to this, a step towards the digital revolution has been taken to turn the US visa paperless. Moreover, Julie M. Stufft, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services, said that widespread adoption of paperless visas would take time, estimated that it would take at least 18 months.
United States Will Soon Turn Your Visa Paperless
The Biden administration has successfully finished a pilot program for issuing “paperless visas,” potentially eliminating the requirement for actual visa stamps or pasting on passport pages. This is a huge step towards streamlining the visa process. The initial phase was conducted in the diplomatic post in Dublin to introduce this approach.
At the Foreign Press Center’s media roundtable, Julie Stufft, the deputy assistant secretary of state for visa services, stated, “We did our first small scope pilot of a paperless visa, which means that there’s no physical visa in someone’s passport and the visa process is still the same.” Moreover, there has been a noticeable change in there is absence of a physical paper.
Promising outcomes have been observed in the pilot experiment, as visitors have successfully navigated the process, especially for immigrant visas.
However, Stufft clarified that it will take some time for paperless visas to become widely used—roughly 18 months or more. The ultimate aim is to create an application or comparable solution enabling people to display their visa status without having a paper copy of their passport.
Stufft was hopeful when asked when Indian nationals might be included in this endeavor, saying, “I hope as soon as possible.” She highlighted that this is a long-term endeavor and might take another year or longer to see broad use.
Stufft explained that while India’s e-visas are different, the U.S. process follows the identical stages for applying for a visa until a real paper application is required. The application procedure is still the same, and an interview is legally mandated. With a paperless visa, the main difference is that no physical documentation is involved.
This program is anticipated to yield significant benefits, including simplifying the renewal procedure without needing physical documentation. The trial program began in Dublin and will progressively broaden to encompass additional visa categories and encompass many global locations.
Although the transition to paperless visas is a gradual process, it is a proactive measure to improve the practicality and ease of the visa application and renewal procedure.
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Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com
