According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Department of State (DOS) will end domestic revalidation of certain non-immigrant visas.  Beginning at 5 PM July 16, the DOS will not accept revalidation applications for C, E, H, I, L, O or P visas that are not physically placed in the drop box of the St. Louis acceptance facility.  Applications that are received after the deadline will not be accepted even if they are postmarked before the deadline.

The domestic revalidation of non-immigrant visas was originally developed to help foreign government officials and international organization employees.  Over time, the privilege was extended to some business-related visas.  Due to the increased interview requirements and the requirement of biometric identifiers in visas that were imposed by the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, the international business community will no longer benefit from domestic visa revalidation.

To lessen the inconvenience to the affected applicants, the DOS is directing visa adjudicating posts to give priority to those who would have benefited from the prior visa reissuance policy.  While the DOS instructs applicants to apply in their home countries, some visa adjudicating posts in Mexico and Canada have the ability to process non-immigrant visa applications from applicants who are in the U.S.