Bar-Coded DS-156 Preferred - Revalidations may Discontinue
Posted Apr 02, 2004

There has been a change with respect to the use of the Form DS-156 for nonimmigrant visa applications at the U.S. consulates abroad. The bar-coded version is not required, but it is preferred. This is a change from the position we reported on January 16, 2004, in which we stated that the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Revalidation Unit required the new bar-coded DS-156 form. See our MurthyBulletin article, Newest DS-156 Needed for Visa Revalidation on MurthyDotCom, for full details. The DOS Visa Office informed the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), on March 5, 2004, that the office's position on this has changed. The new DS-156 bar-coded form is preferred at all consulates and by the visa revalidation unit. Using the bar-coded DS-156 Form will usually result in faster processing because it takes the government much less time to transfer the data over from the bar-coded forms to their database. Accordingly, the DS-156 that does not have the bar coding may still be used as long as it is the version that was released in February 2003.

In a related issue, the DOS Revalidation Unit in St. Louis, Missouri may discontinue providing visa revalidations at some time in the near future. The reason is that this unit is not able to produce the biometric documents that are required under law. If visa revalidations are stopped, all persons needing a new visa to travel will have to obtain the new visa outside the U.S. at a U.S. Consulate. Persons seeking to avoid a trip to the consulate may wish to submit their revalidations as soon as they are eligible to do so. To determine whether visa revalidation in the U.S. is an option, see our February 15, 2002 MurthyBulletin article, Visa Revalidation Progress, available on MurthyDotCom.