After an arduous struggle, the visa wait period for US visas has finally been reduced to below one year in most consulates across India. However, in Chennai, the waiting period is still long.
At present, the wait times in Mumbai and Kolkata have dropped by a year which is 332 days and 357 days respectively, but Chennai applicants will have to wait for almost two years which is around 680 days for their B1/B2 visa appointments.
The US Embassy located in Delhi has the shortest waiting period with only 247 days for tourists and business visa appointments.
Also Read: QS World Subject Rankings 2023 for Engineering & Technology Released: MIT Tops List
The US has been taking several steps to reduce the wait time for visas for Indians including moving employees from other departments across the world to arrive in Indian visa offices and work. There are some other key measures including “Applying from a third country” and “Special interviews and remote processing.”
Applying from a third party is a special provision for those who cannot afford to wait. In such cases, Third Country National (TCN) visa processing helps in solving the issue. To define the term, Third Country National visa is a visa application or a visa obtained from a US consulate in a country which is not your home country.
On the other hand, special interviews and remote processing are part of a multi-pronged approach to clear the backlog of visas. The US embassy in Delhi and the consulates in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad conducted “special Saturday interview days” on January 21 with more such plans lined up for the future.
There was a significant increase in US visa applications after the travel restrictions were uplifted due to the pandemic. Deputy assistant secretary for consular affairs, Julie Stufft, remarked recently that reducing the visa wait time is her top priority and the department is taking major steps to achieve this goal.
She also said that it is the first thing she does when she wakes up as it is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of situation. The visa operates differently in India than in any other country because of the different types of visas and the massive demand from Indians planning to visit the USA for different reasons.
Also Read: Harvard Leads QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023 in Four Majors
In spite of all the efforts, she feels that the wait time is “still too high” in India. To combat this issue, the department has made certain changes such as waiving interview requirements for regular travellers and opening other US embassies and consulates to take Indian applicants. Though the move cannot be considered ideal, still it is conducive to helping people who need to travel urgently.
In January, this year the US Embassy processed over 1 lakh applications for visas. It is the highest total number of visas processed in a single month and also the highest since 2019. Furthermore, in the previous year, 125,000 student visas were processed which is more than any other year.
Wish to Study in the USA?
Source: LiveMint
