Number One Priority To Reduce Visa Wait Time For Indians, Says US
Efforts are being made to reduce the wait time for non-visitors and students, a US visa official said.
New Delhi: The United States Visa officials on Tuesday said that India is its number one priority and added that there has been a 36 per cent rise in visa processing across the country after the COVID pandemic.
During a media interaction organised by Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies on Tuesday, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs Julie Stufft said, "India is the number one priority that we are facing right now. We are absolutely committed to getting out of this situation. Anyone in India seeking a visa appointment or visa have to wait for that's not certainly our ideal."
Stufft further stated, "So far this year, we have issued 36 per cent more visas than we did before the COVID pandemic in India. And that is a huge percentage of progress."
She said that come fall, the US will start the Visa stamping program domestically within the US for visa renewals, including H-1 and L-1. Visa.
The Department of State representative told reporters that initiatives are in place to speed up domestic visa revalidation in certain categories on a pilot basis. "This fall will be the first that we'll be able to put out a call for applications. The pilot is this summer..and we're gonna be doing it for people in worker status. So that would be H's and L and, and I's," the Stufft added.
"All the non-visitor time or student-visa have very very low wait times and that's really key. Our H-1B and F student's wait time were just as high almost six months ago and so we brought down the wait time," Stufft added.
Indian applicants who may be travelling for business to another country can apply for a US visa. Citing the example of countries like Thailand and Germany, Sufft noted, "We've also opened up other missions and this is actually unprecedented. We've asked other US embassies to take on India visa applicants specifically if they choose to travel there."
Acknowledging that there are still difficulties being experienced by visa applicants, the department officials said they are expanding its interview waiver process for some temporary workers, students and academic exchange visitors.
Meanwhile, Deputy Assistant Secretary for India, Nancy Jackson while speaking on the India-US relationship said that people-to-people is the most important relationship between the two countries.
"As I look at the relationship it strikes me that people-to-people ties between our two nations are really the bedrock of what is one of the most consequential relationships in the world and that is the India-US relationship. And we can't underscore that enough and so addressing the view wait time that we were facing is critical. Not only to maintain these people-to-people ties but also to expand in that space. So because of that, this issue remains a top priority," she added, according to ANI.
On January 21, the US Mission in India launched the first in a series of special Saturday interview days to reduce wait times for first-time visa applicants. It will continue to open additional slots for appointments to take place on select Saturdays, ANI quoted a US Embassy in India press release
The US Embassy in New Delhi and Consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad all opened consular operations on Saturday to accommodate applicants who require in-person visa interviews.
These additional interview days are among the measures that have been taken to address the backlog in visa processing caused by COVID-19.
The US Department of State has implemented remote processing of interview waiver cases for applicants with previous US visas. According to the statement, dozens of temporary consular officers from Washington and other embassies will arrive in India to increase processing capacity in January-March.
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