The United States government on Monday ordered Air India to pay $1.4 million (Rs 11.36 crore) as penalty for extreme delays in providing refunds to passengers due to the cancellation or change in flights, mostly during the pandemic.

Air India is one of the six airlines fined by the United States Department of Transportation for failing to provide timely refunds to passengers after flights were cancelled or significantly changed. The Tata group-owned airline has paid $121.5 million (Rs 985.57 crore) as refunds for flight cancellation.

Besides Air India, the other airlines that were asked to pay penalties for delay in refunds include Frontier, TAP Portugal, Aero Mexico, EI AI, and Avianca.

The six airlines have paid $600 million (Rs 4,872 crore) in total as refunds, the Department of Transportation announced. The department has also assessed more than $7.25 million (Rs 58.8 crore) in civil penalties against the six airlines for extreme delays in providing refunds.

“With today’s fines, the Department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection has assessed $8.1 million (Rs 65.7 crore) in civil penalties in 2022, the largest amount ever issued in a single year by that office,” said the Department of Transportation.

“When a flight gets canceled, passengers seeking refunds should be paid back promptly,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Whenever that doesn’t happen, we will act to hold airlines accountable on behalf of American travelers and get passengers their money back. A flight cancellation is frustrating enough, and you shouldn’t also have to haggle or wait months to get your refund.”

Under the United States’ law, airlines and ticket agents have a legal obligation to refund consumers if the airline cancels or significantly changes a flight to, from and within the United States, and the passenger does not wish to accept the alternative offered.

Air India took more than 100 days to process more than half of the 1,900 refund complaints filed with the Department of Transportation for flights that the carrier cancelled or significantly changed, reported PTI.

Frustrated Indians waiting endlessly for the elusive US work visa appointments have a reason to smile. US Mission to India has released over 100,000 appointments for H&L workers and their families.

“In response to high demand for employment-based visas, the US Mission to India recently released over 100,000 appointments for H&L workers and their families,” the US Embassy in India tweeted Friday.

“Thousands of applicants have already booked their appointments and the wait time for both interview waiver and first-time appointments has been cut in half throughout Mission India,” it said in an update. “This bulk appointment opening reflects our ongoing commitment to H&L workers.”

“In fact, in the first nine months of 2022, the US Mission to India had already processed over 160,000 H&L visas and we will continue to prioritize H&L workers for visa appointments as resources allow,” the embassy said in another tweet.

H visas like the highly coveted H-1 B visas are for high skilled foreign workers seeking employment with US companies while L visas allow foreign companies to transfer a manager, executive, or person with specialized knowledge to the US.

This was one of the key assurances given by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar brought up the issue of visa delays with him last month.

US Embassy Counselor Don Heflin had acknowledged on Sep 30 that there are people in the US on H and L visas who haven’t been able to come home and see their family since the pandemic started.

“We sympathize with them a lot,” he said holding out an assurance that “We are going to, sometime in the next few weeks, open 100,000 appointments in the year 2023 for this category of visas.”

Routine B1/B2 appointments

The US Embassy in New Delhi and the consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai resumed processing of routine in-person B1/B2 visas appointments starting in September.

However appointments for 2022 and 2023 filled quickly but the mission continues to open appointments as capacity allows, the embassy said.

The Department of State has also authorized consular officers to waive the in-person interview requirement for certain categories of visa applicants through Dec 31, 2022.

This new authorization applies to travelers applying for F, H-1, H-3, H-4, non-blanket L, M, O, P, Q, and academic J visas who were previously issued any type of visa, if they are applying for a visa in their country of nationality or residence.

However, this authorization does not apply to applicants who have a previous refusal that was not subsequently waived or overcome. Adjudicating consular officers may request an in-person interview if additional information is required from applicants.

Applicants renewing any visa within 48 months of expiration also continue to be eligible for interview waiver, the embassy said.

Visa fee validity

All nonimmigrant visa application fee (also known as the MRV fee) payments made on or after Oct 1, 2022, are valid for 365 days from the date a receipt is issued for payment of the MRV fee.

Applicants must schedule an in-person or interview waiver appointment during this 365-day period.  But there is no requirement the interview or VAC appointment must occur during the 365-day period.  All receipts for payment of MRV fees issued before Oct 1, 2022, were extended until Sep 30, 2023, and remain valid until this date.

The US Embassy in India has accepted that it has been unable to accommodate travellers before their scheduled departure dates because of the rise in visa applicants. “Visa appointments are now open for all categories! But because of high demand, wait times remain significant,” it tweeted on September 27. On its website, it has clarified that these are not “placeholder appointments”.

Any US Visa appointment scheduled recently in the past few months is not a placeholder appointment. The US Embassy in India said in May, “Applicants whose placeholder appointments were cancelled may now reenter the scheduling system to book regular appointments. Appointments have been opened through 2023.”

What does the latest announcement say?
The US Embassy in India has announced that, till the end of December 2022, some types of visa applicants are exempt from having to appear in person for an interview. The authorisation, however, does not apply to applicants who have already been denied but the rejection was not later overturned or waived. If extra information from applicants is needed, adjudicating consular authorities may ask for a face-to-face interview.

Candidates who renew any visa within 48 months of its expiration are still qualified for the interview waiver. The demand for appointments is high across all visa categories and wait times may be prolonged for the majority of routine nonimmigrant visa appointments at the US Embassy New Delhi and the consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai due to reduced staffing and numerous pandemic-related disruptions to its operations since March 2020.

Vaccine mandate
Even though there are a few exceptions, all foreign nationals travelling by flight to the United States as of November 8, 2021, must be completely vaccinated against COVID-19 and present documentation of vaccination status before boarding an aircraft.

However, to board a flight with a destination in the United States, travellers will no longer need to present a negative COVID-19 test result as of June 12, 2022.

Indian visa applicants require a wait-time of over two years just for getting an appointment, a US government website showed, while the timeframe is only two days for countries like China.

There’s an appointment wait-time of 833 days for applications from Delhi and 848 days from Mumbai for visitor visas, shows the US State Department’s website. In contrast, the wait-time is only two days for Beijing and 450 days for Islamabad.

For student visas, the wait time is 430 days for Delhi and Mumbai. Surprisingly, it’s only one day for Islamabad, and two for Beijing.

Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who is in the US, yesterday raised the issue of visa applications backlog with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The top US diplomat said he’s “extremely sensitive” to the issue and that they are facing a similar situation around the world, a challenge arising due to Covid.

He said the US has a plan to address the backlog of visa applications from India. “I think you’ll see that play out in the coming months, but it’s something that we’re very focused on,” said Blinken.

The backlog is due to a reduction in the staff handling the visa process due to lesser applications during the pandemic, said sources. A surge in applications for both student and tourist visas during the post-Covid period led to the backlog as they didn’t have adequate staff, they explained.

While the US Mission to India remained open for the majority of the pandemic, the number of applicants that could be accommodated per day was constrained by local limitations including lockdowns and social distancing requirements, said US embassy spokesperson Chris Elms.

He said the processing of all categories of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, for both first-time and returning applicants, have resumed.

“By prioritizing students this summer to ensure they arrived at school on time, we were able to issue a record of over 82,000 student visas. As a result, more Indian students are headed to the US this year than from any other country,” he said.

The US State Department has made aggressive plans to staff up all Mission India posts to their highest levels ever, said the official.

New officers are being hired and trained, and consular facilities are being upgraded while a new expanded facility is set to open in Hyderabad in coming months, he said.

“Consular Team India is also making use of new authorities that increase processing efficiency, including expanded interview waiver authority for previously issued applicants. In practice, this means tens of thousands of appointments are yet to be opened between now and the “next available” date currently showing in the system,” said Elms.

A US visa program that attracted $37 billion in foreign investments since 2008 for projects including New York’s Hudson Yards and Trump Bay Street in Jersey City is making a comeback – and the queue of wealthy applicants from China to India is growing.

The revived EB-5 program is poised to fund undertakings from a golf resort in the Utah mountains to condos in rural Florida – while allowing some new overseas investors to cut years-long lines. The controversial initiative, which offers a green card in return for putting large sums toward a US business and creating at least 10 permanent jobs, had a backlog that extended almost a decade before it was suspended in June 2021 when Congress failed to reauthorize it.

A settlement last month of lawsuits involving so-called regional centers that allow foreign investors to pool their funds has put the program back on track for new filings. Earlier this year, the Biden administration signed a law that steps up audits and site visits to deter fraud, while also creating a path for some to skip the backlog of cases if they’re willing to invest in rural areas or places with high unemployment. Roughly 100,000 EB-5 visa applicants with some $15 billion in committed investments had been in limbo since the program lapsed, trade group Invest in the USA estimates.

Meanwhile, US law firms are preparing thousands of new applications.

“It’s like people lining up for tickets at a movie,” said Sam Silverman, founder of EB5AN, an affiliate network that operates more than a dozen projects with presence in 20 states. “There’s a giant line with a limited number of tickets with a long wait, but then they just opened up two new showings with literally no one in line.”

China, India

The program’s restart comes as more wealthy Chinese are attempting to leave their home country or are looking for a backup plan. About 10,000 high-net-worth residents are seeking to pull $48 billion from China this year, investment migration consultant Henley & Partners estimates, while another 8,000 Indians are looking to leave. The two Asian nations are expected to have the biggest outflows of rich residents this year after only Russia.

High demand for the visas means cases of more Indian and Chinese investors who applied previously may not advance due to shifting cutoff dates, according to a Department of State bulletin earlier this month.

In an effort to address this demand, EB5investors.com organized its first event in three years in Vietnam last week, drawing hundreds of investors, migration agents, lawyers and capital seekers who set up booths advertising investment projects from Montana to Florida, said Ali Jahangiri, the group’s founder and chief executive officer.

“The attendance was probably better than we’ve ever had in the past,” Jahangiri said. “This thing had kind of been on hold, but the line has shortened.”

The program’s revival will be a boon for the US economy because, unlike investment visa programs in other countries, it’s focused on targeting job creation, particularly in less-developed areas outside of cities, said Miami attorney Ronald Fieldstone, who has handled EB-5 projects worth billions. “A lot of the interesting things are going on in rural areas,” he said. “It’s not just building skyscrapers.”

Still, the program, which began in 1990, has had its share of problems. EB-5 investors unsuccessfully sought arbitration in 2020 after Related Cos. told them that payments from their Hudson Yards project on Manhattan’s west side would be halted because of pandemic-related losses, one of several legal challenges coming from groups of Chinese investors. Other haven’t materialized at all, such as the $600 million Staten Island Ferris wheel. Last month, two New York State residents were charged in a $27 million fraud in which they allegedly promised visas, big returns and access to then-President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, three defendants were sentenced in connection with a fraud scheme that misled immigrants who invested in a biotechnology project in Vermont.

The program “is a complete and unmitigated disaster,” that has largely failed to create jobs in vulnerable areas, said Doug Litowitz, a lawyer who has represented a group of China-based investors who put millions into constructing a condominium and hotel project in Chicago that was never built.

Such critiques have added to concerns of government failure to target development in low-income areas, such as an opportunity zones law signed by Trump in 2017. Aimed at helping impoverished communities, it instead ended up largely being a boon for wealthy investors, critics say. In many cases, EB-5 projects are in opportunity zones, Jahangiri said.

A spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers EB-5 visas, said the legislation passed by Congress in March “made significant changes to the program, including a requirement for the agency to directly review and determine the designation of high-unemployment” areas.

“USCIS will continue to ensure that each request for an EB-5-related immigration benefit complies with the statutory and regulatory framework,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Alternative Destinations

Eleanor Hui, founder of Hong Kong-based Global Life Immigration, said she’ll advise wealthy Chinese clients against applying for EB-5 visas given the backlogs, requirements for residents to report worldwide income to US tax authorities and restrictions on mobility while waiting for permanent residence. Alternative destinations such as Portugal, Greece and Ireland don’t have such drawbacks, she said.

The new law requires EB-5 investors to put up at least $1,050,000 – or $800,000 in economically depressed areas – and create at least 10 jobs to secure permanent residency. The most popular EB-5 pathway lets investors pool resources in regional centers and count indirect job creation, with the caveat that such centers must be re-approved regularly by Congress.

Even so, the fresh rules are unleashing pent-up demand. Bernie Wolfsdorf, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said his firm has been working overtime and hiring new staff to adjust to demand from countries like India, which has eclipsed the number of petitions filed from China. Drawing such investors could help prevent a brain drain, since many wealthy emigrants’ children study at top US schools, he said.

One Indian-born finance executive based in Hong Kong, who asked not to be identified so as not to jeopardize his EB-5 petition, said he wants his daughter to have access to the American university system. He was drawn by the new regulations aimed at cleaning up the program, but is weighing the option against other alternatives in Asia. To meet the minimum investment threshold, he’ll have to cash out on real estate investments in India or some of his stock holdings, which he said he’s willing to do if it helps to secure his daughter’s future.

Indian-American entrepreneur Ravi Puli on Friday revealed that the US consulate in Hyderabad will soon have 55 windows for visa interviews and the consulate services will be improved as promised by the new senior American diplomat Jennifer Larson.

Considering that the US consulate in Hyderabad is the largest in Asia, expectations to improve relations with the US are also on the highest level, he mentioned. “We will work towards creating more jobs in both countries and especially in Telugu states as the unemployment rate is very high although there is a high talent pool,” Puli said.

Larson, who had worked in the Mumbai consulate previously has now been appointed as the new Consul General of US consulate in Hyderabad. The consulate provides visa and consular services to Indian citizens in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

A meet and greet luncheon was organized by Puli in honour of Larson on Friday in Washington in the US. During the event, Ravi Puli introduced all the business owners to the consulate general from various industries like pharma, IT, education, healthcare and law among others. Speaking on the occasion, Larson answered several questions from attendees including bilateral relations, immigration issues, and longest wait times for obtaining visas among others. She also mentioned the highest priority given to student visas among others.

In his remarks, Dr Ravi Kota, Minister (Economic), Embassy of India highlighted the potential opportunities for strengthening economic relations between the USA and the States that come under Larson’s Consular jurisdiction.