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The United States Embassy Montevideo will introduce a new Visa Information Service for visa applicants, family members and associates in the United States. The service, based on similar models operating today in more than 40 other countries across Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, provides timely and accurate information to the public regarding how to apply for a visa to enter the United States of America. The Visa Information Service is provided to the public on behalf of the United States Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay, by Computer Sciences Corporation in partnership with the TeleTech Call Center located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Applicants currently in the United States, can call the Service as well as, family members and associates in the United States can call the Service from anywhere in the U.S., toll-free at 1-866-381-5410 on behalf of the applicant in Uruguay. Callers will be able to speak with operators in either English or Spanish who will answer questions regarding the requirements for applying for a visa in Uruguay and will be able to schedule an interview appointment on behalf of the applicant in Uruguay. This is an enhancement to the current service operating within Uruguay. Callers from the United States will be speaking to the same operators as those calling from Uruguay. They will be given the same information and offered the same appointment scheduling services. The service will be available to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Uruguayan Time, Monday – Friday. Callers will be able to access information on both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas to the U.S. and all the requirements in order to apply for a visa. All nonimmigrant visa interviews are scheduled through this service. After obtaining visa information and scheduling an appointment, the caller should notify his/her family member or associate in Uruguay so that the applicant will be completely prepared the day of their appointment. To receive visa information and to schedule an appointment at the U.S. Embassy Montevideo on behalf of the applicant in Uruguay, family members or associates in the U.S. will need to obtain a Personal Identification Number (PIN). When you call the service at 1-866-381-5410, you will need to purchase a PIN using your Visa or MasterCard for US$16. Once the credit card transaction is approved, you will be given a PIN, so please have a pen and paper ready to write it down. The PIN will allow you to call multiple times for information and appointment scheduling for up to a total of 8 minutes of access to the service. The Visa Information Service PIN is nonrefundable and in the event it is lost the applicant will have to obtain a new one. Please note if the time allowed for the PIN runs out, you must obtain a new PIN and call the service again. Up to 5 immediate family members residing in the same household may be scheduled on one call using one PIN. Immediate family members include: parent, sibling, spouse and child. If more than 5 family members are applying for a visa, it is recommended that you obtain two PINs at the same time, use the first PIN to call the service and schedule the first five appointments, and then call back immediately using the second PIN to schedule the additional family members. Please note there is no guarantee that all family members will be scheduled at the same time for the same day. Please have the following information available for all applicants when you call the service: full name of the applicant as it appears in the passport, passport number, the city where the passport was issued, the date that the passport was issued as well as when it expires, date of birth, country of birth, the applicant’s complete address, including a contact telephone number in Uruguay.
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On January 22, 2007, consular offices abroad were instructed to cease accepting I-130 petitions, “Petition for an Alien Relative” because they lacked the means to perform the criminal background checks on American citizen petitioners, as required by the Adam Walsh law. Subsequently, the Department of State and the U.S.Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) worked to develop a mechanism whereby the USCIS will perform these required Adam Walsh Act checks, for any petitions accepted abroad by the consular officers. Effective immediately, consular posts abroad will be able to accept petitions for immediate relative’s immigrant classification from American citizens who are residents in their consular district, including members of the armed forces as well as true emergency cases such as life or death situation, or health and security and others determined to be in the national interest. Examples of family emergency situation include minor children who would be unexpectedly left alone without a caretaker. Examples of national interest include facilitating the travel of United States military and other USG direct-hire employees assigned overseas who are pending transfer and need to petition for immigrant classification of their spouse and minor children overseas. To demonstrate residency in a consular district, American citizen petitioners must show that they have permission to reside in the consular district and that they have so continuously for at least six months before filling the petition. Individuals who are in the country on a temporary status, such as student or tourist, would not be considered to comply with the residency standards. All lawful permanent residents and American citizens residents
in the United States with permanent address in the United States,
must file I-130 petitions at the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) with jurisdiction over their place
of residence, as is indicated on the USCIS’s web page: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-130.pdf).
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As of Thursday, March 22, 2007 the Embassy of the United States in Uruguay will start to implement a new Visa Information Service, for all immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants in Uruguay. This service, based on similar models that are being currently used in 35 countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia, offers precise information to the public that want to apply for an immigrant or non-immigrant visa to enter the United States. The Visas Information Service for the United States Embassy in Uruguay will be handled by Computer Sciences Corporation and Tele Tech Call Center. The telephone Visas Information Service will be the only official source from the Embassy of the United States to provide general visa information to the public. This service will also be the only official source to obtain general information on visas and the only authorized source to obtain a personal interview to apply for a non-immigrant visa at the Consulate of the United States in Montevideo. The Visas Information Service will have agents who speak both English and Spanish that will be able:
How to access the Visas Information Service:
Benefits of the Visas Information Service: • It offers more flexibility to organize the visa appointments;
The Embassy of the United States in Montevideo is pleased to announce this new service, which will improve the information available to the visa applicants in Uruguay. The Embassy recommends every visa applicant to apply for their visas three months in advance to their date of departure. Please, keep in mind, that once the visa is approved your passport with the visa will be ready in two working days.
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As of November 1, 2006, it is mandatory for all non-immigrant visa applicants to complete the visa application forms DS-156 (DS-157, DS-158) electronically through the Consular Section’s web page. When printing the forms, applicants should use a good resolution printer, which will allow us to read the bar code on the form. Those applicants that arrive for their visa interviews without having completed the visa application forms electronically, will have to obtain a new appointment through our Visas Information Service and return the day of the new interview with the visa application form completed electronically. This change in the visa application process affects all the United States Consulates on a worldwide basis. The Embassy of the United States thanks you for your cooperation with this requirement. This will permit us to process (with this new procedure) the visa applications in a more prompt manner.
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As of October 26th, 2006, all passports from countries which are part of the Visa Waiver Program, must have an electronic chip installed, which is capable to store personal information and including a digital photo of the passport holder for entry into the United States without a visa. If the passport does not contain this chip, you will be able to travel without a visa, depending on your passport’s issuance or last renewal date as follows: • If your passport was issued or renewed before October 26, 2005 it has to be machine readable; • If it was issued or renewed between October 26, 2005 and October 26, 2006 it has to be machine readable and also has to include a digital photograph of the passport holder. If the passport was issued or renewed after October 26, 2006 and does not contain the electronic chip mentioned above, you’ll have to apply for a visa in order to be able to enter the United States. The countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program are: Germany, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Holland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, San Marine, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.
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| >Return
to Instructions on how to apply for a Non-Immigrant
Visa |
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