The United States is working on a “domestic visa revalidation” policy that will enable non immigrant visa holders extend their stay in the U.S. without having to return to their home countries.

However, the policy, which is scheduled to go into effect later in 2023, would only apply to a select group of categories, such as the H-1B and L1 visas for tech professionals and other industry specialists.

The visa revalidation is expected to be beneficial to thousands of Indians, Nigerians and other foreign nationals who live and work in the United States because they will no longer have to fly to India or Nigeria to renew their visas to continue to work in the U.S. 

“We are working in earnest on plans to restart this service for certain petition-based NIV categories, and we hope to have a pilot up and running later this year. This would eliminate the need for these applicants to travel abroad to renew visas,” a State Department official disclosed to Press Trust of India. 

The Department official stated that he was unable to provide an exact figure for the number of individuals currently in possession of nonimmigrant visas who would immediately benefit from the program.

“We cannot comment on how many visa holders would be initially eligible, but the pilot would begin with a small number of cases before scaling over the following 1-2 years.”

The H-1B visas issued to foreign workers with specialty knowledge to work in the U.S. are only valid for three years and should be renewed in the holder’s home country. The new policy, will therefore allow them reduce travel costs and renew them within the U.S.