US Ambassador Elizabeth Jones said while interacting at the Consulate General, Mumbai that there is another surge expected for US student visas for Indian students who wish to study in the US for the winter term.
In a very aggressive surge, US Mission in India issued around 82,000 visas to students in the summer term. At present, around 40 lakhs Indians stay in the US with nearly 2 lakh students studying in US universities.
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The waiting time for US visas, both student and foreign exchange (types F, M and J), ranges from 29 days in Kolkata to 360 days in Hyderabad. The Mumbai and Chennai wait times are 133 days and for New Delhi, the wait time is 132 days.
Ambassador Jones admitted that backlogs in issuing visas are a growing concern for many Indians travelling to the US. Secretary Blinken and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar have discussed these delay issues and Washington has made it a global priority to reduce waiting time in India. The US is deploying the highest resources to clear backlogs as soon as possible.
She explained that they should be up to date on student visas just as they are up to date on crew visas. They are also almost up to date on H-1B visas with perhaps only one or two weeks' delay in those. The US embassy is working on cutting short the time taken related to other visas. They are training new vice counsels in Washington to come to India. Also by next summer, their number will be more than pre-Covid-19 era. In this way, they will be able to reduce the waiting time for visas starting in spring-summer.
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Ambassador Jones emphasised that this issue is extremely important in Washington and tremendous effort is being put to find innovative solutions to reduce the waiting time.
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Source: Free Press Journal