US Visa: For countries like India, the waiting period associated with obtaining a US visa is still very high. The US government said that it has made several efforts to reduce the time taken for visa processing. People get stuck in many countries outside the US due to visa issues.
US visa: For countries like India, the waiting period related to US visa is still much longer than before Kovid. Travelers from India have to wait for more than hundreds of days for US visa. On the other hand, the US government said that it has made several efforts to reduce the time taken in visa processing. People get stuck in many countries outside of America due to visa issues.
Demand has increased after the epidemic
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services Julie Stufft said that there has always been a strong demand in India for all categories of US visas. The pandemic-related closures have resulted in a backlog of applications that are becoming difficult to handle. At the same time, now the demand has increased further after the epidemic.
It has been a difficult two years in India
Stuft told travel news platform Skift, “The last two years have been particularly difficult in India. We have historically seen strong demand across all categories of visas even without a pandemic. This demand has come not just from visitors, but also from expatriates and students, workers and tech workers. We are processing all these applications. So, we have put India in a different category than others.”
Record applications processed in January
He said the US government is processing more visas than countries like India, Brazil and Mexico during the pandemic. In January, the US mission in India processed over one lakh visa applications, the highest since July 2019. Also, this is the biggest figure ever in a single month. Our capacity continues to grow, as the team continues to grow.
Before the pandemic, the US was processing about one million visa applications each year.
700 days wait for interview
Currently, Indian travelers have to wait 700 days for an interview, according to the US State Department website. However, it is much more than the pre-Covid era.
Earlier this month, the US Embassy had said that Indian travelers who cannot wait for long can apply for a visa through a third country.
This root can work
- Stufft provided an example of how this would work. He said, “For example, Bangkok is one such option. Indians do not need a visa to go there. They can go to Bangkok and they will be given an appointment like a Thai applicant.”
- The US Embassy said that Indians can get an appointment for their B1/B2 visa in Thailand. The waiting period for B1/B2 visa interview in Bangkok is only 14 days.
- Due to the long waiting period, many Indians are obtaining US visas through third countries. In the last few months, Indians have applied to nearly 200 US missions in places like Dubai, Singapore, Vietnam.
