If you’ve filed your DS-160, paid your MRV fee, and are still waiting weeks for an interview slot that never seems to come — or worse, got refused without ever sitting across from a consular officer — you’re not imagining a pattern. In March 2026, the All India Seafarers Union (AISU) publicly and formally raised this exact concern with the US Consulate General in Mumbai, describing genuine RPSL-recruited candidates being refused C1/D visas without interview, despite having completed the full recruitment process: interviews with their shipping company, documentation verification, training, and medical examinations.
This article walks through what the C1/D visa actually is, why 2025-26 has been a rougher stretch for Indian crew applicants than usual, what the new US visa fee structure means for your budget, and what you can actually control in your application.
What the C1/D Visa Actually Covers
The C1/D is really two visa classifications stamped together. The C-1 portion is a transit visa — it lets you pass through the United States on your way somewhere else. The D portion is the crewmember visa, which authorizes you to work aboard a vessel while it’s in US waters or calling at US ports.
For Indian seafarers, this visa matters in two main scenarios:
- Cruise ship crew — nearly every major cruise line (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and others) operates itineraries that touch US ports, and crew signing on or off in the US, or transiting through a US airport to reach the ship, need a C1/D.
- US-flag or foreign-flag cargo vessels calling at US ports — deck and engine officers and ratings joining vessels that trade into US ports, particularly on tankers and container ships with US Gulf or East Coast rotations.
Unlike a straightforward tourist visa, the C1/D is tied to your employment — you need a letter from your manning agent or shipping company confirming your joining, along with your seaman’s book/CDC and other standard seafarer documents, in addition to the regular DS-160 nonimmigrant visa application.
Why 2025-26 Has Been Harder
Three separate things have converged to make this period unusually difficult for Indian crew visa applicants, and it’s worth understanding each one separately rather than treating “visas are hard right now” as one vague problem.
First, interview requirements tightened. For years, a portion of visa renewals — including some crew visa renewals — could be processed without an in-person interview if the applicant met specific criteria (renewing within a certain window, no prior issues, and so on). Guidance updated in July 2025 made clear that consular officers retain the discretion to require an in-person interview “on a case-by-case basis for any reason,” regardless of whether an applicant might otherwise have qualified for a waiver. In practice, seafarer community reports suggest interview waivers for crew visas have become far less common — budget for an interview even if you’re simply renewing a visa you’ve held before.
Second, the AISU’s reported pattern of refusals without interview is a real, documented concern, not a rumor. Their public statement to the US Consulate General Mumbai in March 2026 specifically flagged candidates who completed the full RPSL recruitment pipeline — company interview, documentation, training, ENG1 medical — and were still refused, sometimes without ever being called in. The union has asked the Consulate to review this pattern and, separately, has asked that if full five-year visa validity can’t currently be granted given the broader global situation, a minimum two-year validity be considered so new candidates aren’t blocked from starting their careers entirely. As of this writing there’s no public confirmation that the Consulate has formally responded to that request — it’s an active, unresolved advocacy effort, not a settled policy change, so don’t plan around an outcome that hasn’t happened yet.
Third, and separately from anything specific to seafarers, US nonimmigrant visa costs are going up across the board. That’s worth its own section, because the numbers matter for planning your budget.
The New Visa Integrity Fee — What’s Actually Confirmed
On July 4, 2025, the US signed into law H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Among its immigration provisions is a new Visa Integrity Fee of at least $250, applying to foreign nationals applying for nonimmigrant visas — a category that includes C1/D. A few things are worth being precise about, because a lot of the online chatter simplifies or gets this wrong:
- It’s in addition to, not instead of, your existing MRV visa application fee. You’d be paying both.
- It’s designed to be refundable, provided you comply with your visa terms (don’t overstay by more than five days, don’t take unauthorized employment) — but the mechanics of how and when that refund actually happens were still unclear as of the fee’s creation, and multiple immigration-law commentators have noted the process could take years to stand up.
- The original effective date was October 1, 2025 — but by that same October, credible immigration-advisory sources were reporting the rollout had been delayed, with implementation details (how it’s collected, by whom, through which system) still not finalized. That means the fee’s actual current status could have changed again since — confirm directly with your RPSL company, your visa facilitation service, or the Consulate before assuming either that you will or won’t be charged it.
- It will likely rise over time, since the law indexes it to inflation once it’s actually in force.
Don’t treat any number you read about this fee — including the $250 figure here — as guaranteed to still be current by the time you apply. Fee structures for a fee this new and this recently delayed are exactly the kind of detail that changes with little notice.
What You Can Actually Control
None of the above — union advocacy, consular discretion, or a federal fee schedule — is something you personally can move. What you can do is make sure nothing on your side of the application gives a consular officer a reason to hesitate.
- Only recruit through a licensed RPSL (Recruitment and Placement Service Licence) company. This isn’t just a scam-prevention step (covered in more detail in our guide to spotting fake manning agents) — a genuine RPSL company’s documentation is what makes your employment story coherent to a consular officer in the first place.
- Keep your CDC, passport, and prior US visa history (if any) clean and consistent. Gaps, mismatched dates, or unexplained periods between contracts are the kind of thing that invites more scrutiny, not less.
- Complete your DS-160 accurately and consistently with your other documents. Small inconsistencies between your DS-160 answers and your paperwork are a common, avoidable source of delay.
- Bring your full document set to the interview, even for a renewal. Given how much has tightened around waivers, assume you’ll be interviewed and prepare exactly as you would for a first-time application: joining letter, CDC, STCW certificates, medical fitness certificate, and proof of your company’s RPSL registration.
- Budget extra time and extra money. Longer waits and additional fees are the two consistent, well-documented realities right now — plan your joining date and your finances with that margin built in, rather than assuming the fastest or cheapest recent experience you’ve heard about will be yours too.
The Bottom Line
The C1/D visa process for Indian seafarers hasn’t fundamentally changed in what it requires of you — but the margin for error has shrunk. Interview waivers are less available, a new federal fee is in motion even if its exact status is still unsettled, and the seafarer union representing you has gone on record about refusals that don’t fit the normal pattern. None of that is a reason to panic about a career built around US-calling vessels or cruise lines — it’s a reason to over-prepare rather than assume the process will go the way it did for a friend six months ago.
FAQs
What is a C1/D visa and who needs one? It’s a combined transit (C-1) and crewmember (D) visa that lets seafarers join US-flag vessels or foreign-flag ships, including most cruise lines, that call at US ports.
Why are more Indian seafarers reporting rejections in 2026? The All India Seafarers Union has formally flagged a pattern of refusals without interview to the US Consulate General Mumbai, even for candidates who completed the full RPSL recruitment process.
What is the Visa Integrity Fee? A $250-minimum fee created by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act for nonimmigrant visas, in addition to the standard MRV fee — refundable in principle, but its rollout has been delayed and its exact current status should be confirmed before you apply.
How can I improve my chances of approval? Recruit only through a licensed RPSL company, keep your CDC and passport history clean and consistent, complete the DS-160 accurately, and prepare for an in-person interview even on a renewal.
Preparing a C1/D visa application and want your documents reviewed first?
— Sailor Success Team | helpme@sailorsuccess.online