AILA Quicktake #314: DOS Plans to Restore Domestic Visa Renewals

Based on an exclusive interview with Julie Stufft, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Visa Services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Bloomberg Law reported that DOS will launch a pilot program later this year offering stateside visa renewals for H-1B and other temporary visa holders. AILA has been pushing DOS to restore stateside processing of visa renewals, which were discontinued in 2004. In a 2022 policy brief, AILA states that “it is imperative for DOS to start taking incremental steps now to help those individuals who have already been sufficiently vetted by the government and who are in need of stateside renewal the most.”