After many years of service, the Revalidation Division of the US Department of State will discontinue its domestic revalidation service for E, H, I, L, O, and P visas due to enhanced border security requirements.

The Division will CLOSE TO NEW APPLICATIONS ON JULY 16, 2004. ALL APPLICATIONS FOR VISA REVALIDATIONS IN THE E, H, I, L, O, OR P CATEGORIES MUST BE RECEIVED IN THE ST. LOUIS PROCESSING OFFICE ON OR BEFORE JULY 16, 2004.

Applications and supporting documentation received after July 16 will be returned.

Applications for visa revalidation following a 221(g) refusal and requests for corrections must be submitted to the Revalidation Division in Washington no later than September 30, 2004.

New applications will continue to be processed in the order in which they are received. All information in the sections below on the revalidation process remains valid.

Section 303 of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act requires the Department of State to collect a biometric identifier (fingerprint) from all non-diplomatic visa applicants.

The Department of State encourages all applicants to apply for new visas in their home countries:

"If you are not traveling to your home country, you may apply at a U.S. visa processing post in Canada and Mexico provided you have made a visa interview appointment. You may also apply at a U.S. visa processing post in a third country provided you have made an interview appointment. You should understand that if there is a delay in visa issuance, you may need to spend more time overseas than you originally planned. Information on U.S. visa processing posts and their visa interview appointment systems is at http://usembassy.state.gov. A business associate, friend, or relative may need to make the visa interview appointment for you. We have directed our visa processing posts to give priority to applicants who would have benefited from our domestic visa revalidation service."

Notification of the discontinuation of domestic visa revalidation services was published in the Federal Register on June 23, 2004.

For more information, click on the US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs website.