The US recently completed a small-scale paper-less visa programme at its diplomatic mission in Dublin which it plans to roll out gradually. The stamping on passport pages of applicants might soon be outdated. The Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services, Julie Stufft, told foreign correspondents at a media round table that the US has conducted the first small-scope pilot of paperless visas. She added that the process for visas is the same but now there is no physical visa on someone's passport.
News agency PTI quoted Stufft as saying, "We just piloted this for the first time, so this is not something that's going to be happening in the next year. It will take us probably 18 months to have widespread use of this or longer. But it is very exciting that we have had this first step where we have actually seen visitors come through and, in this case, they were immigrant visas without physical paper in their passports."
She added, "That will ultimately, in the future, as some other countries do, require an app or something that allows people to show their visa status without the physical paper in their passport. We are very, very excited about that."
While responding to a question Stufft said that she hopes these paperless visas will be issued to Indian citizens as well. She then said that she hoped that this would get done as soon as possible.
These visas will be different than the e-visas which are issued by India to nationals of certain countries, mostly to tourists.
PTI quoted her as saying, "We don't call it an e-visa (like India) because we have the same visa process up to the point of the paper. So an interview is still required by law. If you are a first-time applicant, you will apply in the same way with the same forms. If you are getting a paperless visa, it will look all the same until the point where there is no paper. That is the main difference between an e-visa like in India and this visa. But just the ability for people to renew their visas without a piece of paper means people can keep their passports. There will be fewer problems with sending things through the mail. It just will have tremendous benefit for both the applicant and for us."
She added, "We have already done the small pilot. Now we are branching out to other types of visas. We started with our embassy in Dublin. Because there is an airport facility there with US officials who could check it before someone boarded a plane. We fully expect to expand that regionally and throughout the world. It will be piece by piece though," as reported by PTI.