A piece of good news for visa applicants in the country as the US mission in New Delhi this week announced the opening of over 2.5 lakh interview appointments.
US Opens 2.5 Lakh Visa Slots
The US embassy on Wednesday said that more than a quarter-million nonimmigrant visa appointments opened during the weekend, as per a post on X formerly known as Twitter.
The US mission said,“It was a busy weekend for our consular team! Over the weekend we opened over a quarter million nonimmigrant visa appointments,” in a post on X.
Despite the opening of the visa appointments, several applicants complained that these slots were unavailable for 2023.
Huge Reduction In Wait Time
There is a substantial reduction in wait times for B1 (business) and B2 (tourist) visa categories, as per the latest data from the US State Department.
For instance, Delhi’s wait time has fallen to 37 days, compared to 542 days just last week, said the media report.
Besides this, several other consulates have also seen improvement in wait times including Kolkata at 126 days (previously 539), Mumbai at 322 days (formerly 596), and Chennai at 341 days (previously 526).
Contrary to others, Hyderabad is the only location which has witnessed a slight increase, rising from 506 to 511 days.
Frustration Among Applicants Due To the Unavailability Of Appointment For 2023
Despite being good news, the US mission’s announcement of 2.5 lakh slots was met with frustration from many applicants.
This is due to the reason that there were no available dates for 2023 when they tried to book for the appointments.
In some cases, the visa applicants trying to reschedule an existing appointment initially set for May next year encountered a lack of available dates in Mumbai until June 2024.
The ones who were seeking appointments in Delhi found the earliest availability to be on February 22, 2024.
In response to the US embassy’s post, one of the users on X said, “No appointments, portal issues restrict applicants to schedule any appointments. There is no submit option when I try to schedule an appointment.. email sent.. awaiting swift action.”
“Nice to see more appointments being added. However, the new website for scheduling is a royal mess and pain, to say the least. I have been stuck with an appointment issue for more than a month now, despite calling customer service every day,” another visa applicant.
