NEW DELHI: The US mission in India announced that it has processed one million visa applications in India this year, which was 20 per cent more than pre-pandemic levels.
However, a fresh applicant for a US visa in India has to wait for over a year. "We would like the US to reduce the wait time for visas that are issued to Indians. Last year we could not take a delegation for an important event to the US as members couldn’t get visas," said Lalit Bhasin, National President of Indo American Chambers of Commerce during the 20th Indo-US Economic Summit on Tuesday.
A few days ago, the US had announced that a record 90,000 student visas were issued to Indians during the summer months (June to August), which was 25 per cent of the total student visas issued globally.
"Our partnership with India is one of the United States’ most important bilateral relationships, and in fact one of the most important relationships in the world. The ties between our people are stronger than ever, and we will continue our record-setting volume of visa work in the coming months to give as many Indian applicants as possible the opportunity to travel to the United States and experience the U.S.-India friendship firsthand," said US Ambassador Eric Garcetti.
In 2022, over 1.2 million Indians visited the United States. Indians now represent over 10 per cent of all US visa applicants worldwide, including 20 per cent of all student visa applicants and 65 per cent of all H&L-category (employment) visa applicants.
The H and L category visas are used by employers to hire non-immigrants for work in the US. The L1 visas are for work management or executive capacity whereas H1B visas are typically used for specialised occupations.
In order to facilitate the visa processing, the US mission has increased its staff.
The mission says that they have implemented strategies to increase efficiency, extending interview waiver eligibility to new visa categories and utilizing remote work to allow staff around the world to contribute to Indian visa processing.
In 2024, the US mission plans to implement a pilot programme that would allow domestic visa renewal for qualified H&L-category employment visa applicants.