The United States has always been among the most coveted destinations preferred by Indian tech workers and students looking to pursue their higher studies.
However, with the Covid-19 pandemic striking, the wait time for visa processing in India has shot up by a lot. However, the US consulates in the country are trying their best to fill in the gap and make the whole process smoother for applicants.
In a recent development, the US has announced launching new initiatives with the aim of cutting the delay times in the existing visa processing in a major country like India.
In order to cancel the large number of backlogs, US has launched a ‘multi-pronged approach’ in India, including conducting special interviews for first time applicants and increase the strength of their consular staff.
The US embassy have informed that the US mission in India have launched a special Saturday interview series, with an aim to reduce the wait time for first-time visa applicants.
“The United States Embassy in New Delhi and Consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad all opened consular operations on Saturday to accommodate applicants who require in-person visa interviews,” the US embassy said in a statement.
The first of the Saturday series interview began on January 21, 2023. The embassy will add more slots for this special interview series in the upcoming month to enhance the efficiency.
“These additional interview days are just one component of a multi-pronged initiative to address the backlog in visa processing caused by Covid-19,” the US mission said.
“By this summer, the US mission in India will be at full staffing, and we expect to be processing visas at levels from prior to the Covid-19 pandemic,” it added.
Earlier this month, the US state department informed that 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.
