The Visa Revalidation Unit at the State Department recently advised that, due to a software error, some revalidation applications submitted in March might process longer than the 10-12 week quoted timeframe. Revalidation is the process by which someone with an approved E, H, I, L, O, and P visa in his/her passport obtains a new stamp to reflect an extension of the same classification from the BCIS (Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services). The State Department advised AILA that the Revalidation Unit's software failed to capture data from key fields on a number of applications before the problem was corrected, and therefore these applications require data re-entry. After correct data re-entry the applications will return to the same position in the processing queue.

Applicants with urgent international travel needs can withdraw their revalidations applications and have their passports returned. For detailed information on the revalidation process, see http://travel.state.gov/revals.html.