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All,
Just wanted to share my F1 visa renewal experience. I applied for F1 renewal at mumbai consulate under the dropbox interview waiver program. After about a week from the date of document submission, I got my passport back with a white 221g slip. The only thing checked on the slip was "Please obtain a new passport".
My passport was not damaged in any way and was valid 2 years from the date of the application (and 1.5 years from the date on my I-20). However, it did have an endorsement for address correction. The endorsement had a handwritten address. In the absence of other reasons, I believe that my passport was rejected by the US consulate due to the handwritten endorsement. The reason might be the Indian government's plan to phase out all handwritten passports by 2015.
I obtained a new passport and sent it back to the consulate. Two days later, I received a call from the consulate and was asked to appear for an interview the next day. The VO only asked me a few questions about my research and issued me a visa on the new passport, which I received at the collection office in pune 3 days later.
All this caused me to miss my flight, and I had pay a lot to change my plane ticket.
If you have any handwritten corrections on your passport, or an old handwritten passport with 20 year validity, please consider the possibility that you might be asked to get a new one and plan accordingly.
Hope this saves some trouble for someone!
Just wanted to share my F1 visa renewal experience. I applied for F1 renewal at mumbai consulate under the dropbox interview waiver program. After about a week from the date of document submission, I got my passport back with a white 221g slip. The only thing checked on the slip was "Please obtain a new passport".
My passport was not damaged in any way and was valid 2 years from the date of the application (and 1.5 years from the date on my I-20). However, it did have an endorsement for address correction. The endorsement had a handwritten address. In the absence of other reasons, I believe that my passport was rejected by the US consulate due to the handwritten endorsement. The reason might be the Indian government's plan to phase out all handwritten passports by 2015.
I obtained a new passport and sent it back to the consulate. Two days later, I received a call from the consulate and was asked to appear for an interview the next day. The VO only asked me a few questions about my research and issued me a visa on the new passport, which I received at the collection office in pune 3 days later.
All this caused me to miss my flight, and I had pay a lot to change my plane ticket.
If you have any handwritten corrections on your passport, or an old handwritten passport with 20 year validity, please consider the possibility that you might be asked to get a new one and plan accordingly.
Hope this saves some trouble for someone!
