Applicants at a US consulate await visa interviews as America ends the Dropbox program for most categories starting September 2025
Effective from September 2, 2023, the United States will change its non-immigrant visa issuance systems wholesale by putting to an end the "Dropbox" Interview Waiver Program for most categories. This change means that applicants need to be in-person at US consulates abroad for H1-B, L1, F1 and O1 visa renewals, as well as children below 14 and seniors above 79.
The new rules offer a very limited form of relief. Group B: 1/B: 2-renewal restricts interview waivers to very few tourist visa renewals and certain official diplomatic visas, such as A-groups, G, NATO and TECRO categories. Even renewal of tourist visas under waiver will be limited, with applications made within 12 months of expiry from the applicant's country, with no history of refusals or ineligibility.
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With the elimination of interview waivers, US consulates will now be further strained concerning resource distribution, especially in high-demand countries such as India. Thereby posing longer waiting times, scheduling backlogs, and increased travel expenses for the applicants. Immigration lawyers warned this change might interfere with travel and business appointments for many professionals, scholars and families.
A number of interview waiver slots due to be held in August and September of 2025 had already been canceled, bringing applicants into in-person interviews much sooner than expected. The abrupt implementation is causing mass scrambling.
Along with the Dropbox changes, the USCIS was able to clarify that a visa will be recognized as "available" for purposes of Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) age computations only under certain circumstances. Such changes may heavily affect the CSPA applicability threshold for children of high-skilled immigrants from backlogged countries such as India and China, limiting the dependent status of such children.
The immigration community argues that these rules and its administration constitute a tightening and scrutiny of visa processes. Although ostensibly for security enhancement, the move likely will slow renewals and bog down administrative processes while imposing burdens on legitimate travelers and workers.
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