The United States has always been among the most coveted destinations preferred by Indian tech workers or students, especially for those looking for higher studies.
With the world moving towards normalcy after the deadly pandemic, travel for business, education and leisure has mushroomed in recent times.
According to the latest update by the US state department, the number of student visas issued for Indian citizens broke its all time high in the fiscal year 2022, standing at almost 1.25 lakh.
“Our embassy and consulates in India broke their all-time record for the number of student visas issued in the single fiscal year 2022. We have issued nearly 1,25,000 student visas,” said Ned Price, the State Department Spokesperson, in a press conference.
Price did take into consideration that despite breaking its record for the number of Indian student visas issued in 2022, there are still such applicants that face longer visa wait times.
Responding to a query put up in the conference for a slowdown of visa backlog clearance for Indian tourists, Price said, “We of course recognize that some applicants may still face extended visa wait times and we are making every effort to reduce visa interview appointment wait times as quickly as possible.”
In November last year, a senior official of the US Embassy said that he was confident of India surpassing China to become the country with most number of visas issued by 2023, stating that it would be ranked two in the issuance of visas after Mexico.
“We expect that India will surpass China in getting the number of US visas by next year’s summer. After Mexico, India is expected to rank number 2 in the issuance of US Visas,” the official said while in New Delhi.
Coming back to Price, he said, “We have doubled the hiring of US foreign and service personnel to do this important work. Visas processing is recovering faster than projected and over the coming years we expect to reach pre-pandemic processing levels.”
