Through its Twitter handle, the US Embassy in India announced the suspension of its VSF visa application, fee payment and appointment services for three days in July. As per the notice, starting July 12 - 14 this year, the VFS Global platform will remain deactivated.
According to the tweet, VFS Global, the largest organisation in the world that handles visa processing for the US mission to India, will be migrating to a new platform. As a result, aspirants will not be able to access any visa application, appointment or fee payment services related to US visas.
The US embassy added that services to all calls, visa appointments and fee payments will remain unavailable for the duration of the specified days. However, it assured the aspirants that services are scheduled to resume normality from July 15, 2023.
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In addition to this, the tweet also provided the new email address that visa applicants will be able to use to reach the VFS Global customer service centre, i.e. at support-india@usvisascheduling.com or visit their website for more information.
Managing the administrative and non-judgemental tasks pertaining to consular services, visas and passports, VFS Global is the largest outsourcing and technological services specialist for government and diplomatic missions.
In his comments regarding the visa processing situation in India, Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India highlighted the reduction of the wait times for tourist visas by 50%, for the first time. In another statement, the US mission also announced the Biden administration’s plan to process at least a million visas for 2023.
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Garcetti further affirmed that the US mission in India has been working on achieving the goal, adding that the missing has been processing more visas faster in India than previously recorded. He stated that the mission is nearly halfway to achieving the goal of processing 1 million visas.
Recently, the US also announced its plans to recapture unused Green Cards, which may even benefit Indian professionals. As per reports, the plan involves recapturing green cards from family and employment categories that have remained unused since 1992. Reports added that “the bureaucratic delays lead to Green Card underutilisation and, subsequently resulting in the accumulation of unused ones over the years”.
Source: Times Now News
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