Reducing the Wait Time for Obtaining US Visa

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 30 January 2023, 23:12 IST
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Reducing the Wait Time for Obtaining US Visa

With the US embassy's mission in India elevating their measures, the wait time for Indian passport holders is anticipated to truncate on an effective note, encouraging the participation of non-immigrant Indian workers.    

New initiatives have been launched by the US in cutting delays on the grounds of visa processing in India, including a schedule of special interviews for first-time applicants and elevating the consular staffing strength in the country. As a pilot measure, the US embassy in Delhi, and the delegates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad have conducted special Saturday interview days recently. Launched as the first in a series by the US mission in India, per an enhanced effort, it aims in reducing the wait times for first-time visa applicants.

The H1-B visa is merely a 195-year prolonged wait, which is likely deduced and is brought into effect from January 23rd. That is, the wait time for Indian visa applicants for the US, say B1- a business visa or B-2, a tourism visa, has been alleviated to 535 days, with F, M, and J visas for students and exchange programs truncating to 90 days. Similarly, the wait time for petition-based Temporary Workers like H, L, O, P, and Q visas is nearly 83 days, with C, D, and C1/D visas for crew and transit upholding an interview appointment wait time of 84 days on average. The new initiatives owing to the United States Embassy in New Delhi and its consulates have critically opened consular operations releasing more than 250,000 additional B1/B2 appointments.

The US mission in India is highly anticipated to open additional slots or appointments for select Saturdays in the forthcoming months as a critical component of a multi-pronged initiative. This, in turn, enables efficient addressing of the backlog in visa processing, especially with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The US embassy furthermore added that dozens of temporary consular officers will arrive from Washington and several other embassies in increasing visa processing capacity on an effective note.

Increased staffing is expected by the US mission of India during the upcoming summer for efficient processing of visas at levels prior to the pandemic scenario. On account of lifting travel restrictions, the mission to India had likely prioritized facilitating legitimate travel, adjudicating over 800,000 non-immigrant visas in the past year, exceeding a record number of both student and employment visas. The pilot focus of the US embassy has likely relied upon student visas, in the due course of addressing the backlog. Wherein, an increased visa issue accounting for nearly 82,000 Indian students, and an intensified focus on truncating the wait times for non-immigrant work visas like H and L categories are highly noticed.