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24 Percent Rise in U.S. Visas for Indians

ST Team
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
ST Team
The U.S. Department of State in a recently released figures showed that the number of H-1B visas granted to Indian workers have been increased by 24 percent in the fiscal year (FY) 2010-2011. Despite a higher rate of refusal, the number of Indians granted an H-1B (Specialty Occupation) visa has grown significantly, from 54,111 issued in 2010 to 67,195 in 2011.

The figures show that India is the single largest beneficiary of H-1B visas by a wide margin: in the past four years, U.S. visas applicants from India have been granted more than twice as many H-1B visas as the four next-highest countries combined. These statistics illustrate the booming nature of US-India business relations.

Data also reveals that India is considered the leader in the issuance of L-1 (intra-company transfer) visas, where more than 25,000 L-1 visas were issued to Indian nationals in FY 2011 - or 37 percent of L-1 visa issuances worldwide.

However, the visa rejection rate has also gone up substantially, which is believed to be due to either a rise in the number of overall applications (including renewals) or procedural delays. The U.S. mission in India had recently invested USD$100 million in updating and expanding its consular facilities in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Thanks to local hiring, applicants can now choose to have their visa interviews in native languages like Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Tamil and Telugu.

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