The waiting period to get an American visa is expected to see a significant fall by the summer of 2023 and more Indians are likely to avail the benefits from the reduced time.
The number of visa applications to the US is projected to reach around 1.2 million next year and India is the number one priority for Washington, a senior US embassy official said on Thursday.
“India is number one priority for Washington (for issuance of visas). Our aim is to bring the situation to the pre-Covid-19 level by the middle of next year,” the official said.
India has been one of the very few countries where applications for US visas saw a major upswing after coronavirus-related travel restrictions were lifted.
Considering the long wait time for grant of visas, the US is also rolling out a series of initiatives including hiring of more personnel and increasing the “drop box” facilities, the official said.
The plan is to issue around one lakh visas every month.
Recently, a US-based diaspora group had launched an online petition campaign urging US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to reduce the long waitlist for various types of American visas being issued from India.
As per travel.state.gov reports on October 31, there was an average 900+ days’ wait time for appointments for visitors’ visa (B1/B2), an average 400 days’ wait time for students (F, M, J) and an average 300 days’ wait time for petition-based temp workers like H, L, O, P and Q across the USA consulates in India (Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata), it said.
The official said the US has already identified H (H1B) and L category visas for Indians as its priority and nearly 1,00,000 slots were released recently for those wanting to renew the visas.
The wait time for certain categories has already been brought down to around nine months from earlier 450 days.
The official said the wait time for B1, B2 (business and tourism) visas is also being brought down from around 9 months.
The official also said that India is expected to move to the number two place from current number three in terms of the number of visas being issued by the US.
Currently, Mexico and China are ahead of India. The US will initially focus on applicants using the “drop box” facility.
The official said priority is also being accorded to cut the waiting time for the students’ visas, especially for those looking for renewal of their visas.
The process used to apply for renewal of a US visa without the visa interview is known as the drop box facility.
Broadly, the applicants having a US visa within a span of the last four years are eligible for drop box facility.
The US issued around 82,000 visas in the last one year. “We are looking at 1.1 to 1.2 million visa applications to Indians by next summer,” the official said.
