Visa renewal applications in the US will no longer have interview waiver options as of September.
The U.S. Department of State is set to implement a significant change in its visa processing policies, with the elimination of visa interview waivers for most nonimmigrant visa categories from September 2, 2025. This move marks a return to pre-pandemic visa screening norms, emphasising enhanced national security and fraud prevention.
Business/employment visa categories such as H-1B (specialty workers), L-1 (intracompany transferees), E-1/E-2 (treaty traders and investors), O-1 (extraordinary ability individuals), as well as student (F-1), exchange visitor (J-1), and all other popular nonimmigrant visa categories will no longer be eligible for interview waivers. Renewals in the same visa category that previously qualified for interview waivers will now require interviews.
The policy change affects a wide range of applicants, including those in the H-1B workers and F-1 students categories, who were previously able to skip the interview step. Almost all applicants, including those under 14 or over 79, will be required to attend mandatory in-person consular interviews at U.S. embassies or consulates abroad.
Exceptions to the interview requirement will be very limited, primarily diplomats and certain foreign officials, and a small subset of B visa applicants. Applicants for official or diplomatic visas like A, G, NATO, TECRO E-1 types are likely to be exempt from the in-person interview requirement.
The DS-160 form must be filled out online for U.S. visa applications. If an applicant qualifies for the interview waiver, they will receive instructions on how to submit their documents without needing to book an interview. In-person interviews continue to be a crucial step because they allow consular officers to get a clearer picture of each applicant beyond just forms and documents.
This tightening of visa processing policies comes after the expansions of waivers and flexibility allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent rollbacks earlier in 2025, which first reduced the waiver window from 48 months to 12 months and limited eligibility mostly to renewal applicants.
Immigration attorney Johnson L. Myalil recommends checking for visa appointments prior to September 2 for those planning to renew their visas to avoid potential delays and longer processing times. The State Department has not yet detailed how certain appointments already scheduled for on or after this date will be handled.
- Applicants in the H-1B workers and F-1 students categories, who previously were able to bypass interviews due to visa waivers, will now be required to attend mandatory in-person consular interviews for their renewals as a result of the new policy change in finance-related visa categories.
- The tightening of visa processing policies in finance-related visa categories, such as business/employment visas, student visas, and exchange visitor visas, means that almost all applicants will need to submitting to in-person interviews at U.S. embassies or consulates abroad, as the interview waiver eligibility has been significantly reduced.
