In order to accommodate the increasing demand for visas, the US announced on Monday that it had set aside an extra 250,000 appointments for Indian travellers, including tourists, skilled labourers, and students.
According to a statement from the US embassy, the decision comes at a time when over 1.2 million Indians have visited the US so far in 2024—a 35% increase over the same period in 2023. It stated that at least six million Indians own a non-immigrant visa, and the mission grants thousands more every day.
According to the statement, “the newly announced additional slots will enable hundreds of thousands of Indian applicants to attend interviews on time, facilitating travel, which is the foundation of the people-to-people ties that underpin the US-India relationship.”
For the second year in a row, the US embassy in India has already received over one million applications for non-immigrant visas. The statement read, “We continued to process record numbers during our summer student visa season, and all first-time student applicants were able to obtain an appointment at one of our five consular sections around India.”
It said, “Our current priorities are uniting families, establishing connections between businesses, and promoting tourism.”
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden set an ambitious goal to improve and expedite the visa process and I’m proud to say that we have delivered on that promise,” US ambassador Eric Garcetti was quoted as saying in the statement. “To make sure we can satisfy the soaring demand, our consular teams at the embassy and four consulates put in a lot of overtime,” it further added.
Based on data given earlier by the US government, Indians made up over 25% of the 600,000 student visas that the US issued between October 2022 and September 2023. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused delays and backlogs in visa applications, for which the US has likewise taken action.
The US processed more visas in India than ever before during 2023, decreasing the wait time for tourist visa appointments by 75%. The US consulates and embassy in India have handled 1.4 million visa applications in the last year. With a 60% rise in applications for all sorts of visas in 2023 compared to 2022, Indians now make up one out of every ten foreign applicants for US visas.
Through procedural improvements and staffing enhancements, the US embassy reported earlier this year that appointment wait times for visiting visas were reduced from an average of 1,000 days to 250 days throughout India.