kolkata even as people lapse into another depressive scenario of restrictions and hunkering down to ride over the third covid wave a beacon of hope emerged for family members of nris in the us and indian americans who have been anxiously waiting for over nine months to get travel visas to meet their loved oneson saturday several travel agents in the city not only got slots to submit dropbox applications for b1b2 visa some even managed to get visa interview slots in february for fresh applicationsi have been trying to get a dropbox slot for days on saturday morning i unexpectedly got slots for two senior citizens who have been waiting to travel to meet their children who live in the us said jaydeep mukherjee of meghdutam travels who had thought that dropbox slots would open after the pressure of students jf visa and employees h1banil punjabi of ares travels also managed to get slots for both depositing dropbox applications and fresh visa interviews it is great for senior citizens who have their children settled in the us in this pandemic situation when there is uncertainty about the future many have become desperate to get a chance to visit their children thankfully slots are now opening up and they will get to travel he said sources said the slots opened earlier in the monththe b1b2 dropbox enables individuals who have earlier travelled to the us or whose visa has either expired recently or is on the verge of expiry to apply for a fresh visa though donald l heflin the minister counsellor for consular affairs that is in charge of issuing us visas in india had clarified that individuals whose visas had expired within the past four years could use the dropbox to apply for a visa manav soni of exclusive travels said it was available only for visas that had expired within two yearsofficials in the us embassy said the us department of state had authorized consular officers to waive the inperson interview requirement for travellers applying for f h1 h3 h4 nonblanket l m o p q and academic j visas who were previously issued any type of visas