Washington [US]: India is the principle precedence for the US, US Visa officers mentioned including that there was round 36 per cent rise on visa processing throughout the nation after Covid-19 pandemic.
Whereas addressing a presser organised by Basis for India and Indian Diaspora Research on Tuesday, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Providers within the Bureau of Consular Affairs Julie Stufft mentioned, “India is the primary precedence that we face proper now. We’re completely dedicated to getting out of this case. Anybody in India searching for a visa appointment or visa have to attend for that’s not actually our very best.”
She additional said, “To date this yr, we have now issued 36 per cent extra visas than we did earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic in India. And that could be a large share of progress.”
She additionally mentioned that they’re doing all the pieces to scale back the wait time.
“All of the non-visitor time or student-visa have very very low wait occasions and that’s actually key. Our H-1B and F pupil’s wait time have been simply as excessive virtually six months in the past and so we introduced down the wait time,” she added.
The H-1B visa, underneath the Immigration and Nationality Act, is a non-immigrant visa that permits US firms to make use of international staff in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical experience.
Speaking concerning the India-US relationship, Deputy Assistant Secretary for India Nancy Jackson mentioned that people-to-people is crucial tie between US and India.
“As I take a look at the connection it strikes me that people-to-people ties between our two nations are actually the bedrock of what is among the most consequential relationships on the earth and that’s the India-US relationship. And we are able to’t underscore that sufficient and so addressing the view wait time that we have been dealing with is crucial. Not solely to keep up these people-to-people ties but in addition to broaden in that area. So due to that, this subject stays a high precedence,” she added.
Earlier this month, the US Embassy in India mentioned that Indians who’re travelling overseas can get a visa appointment on the US Embassy or consulate of their vacation spot. It cited the instance of Thailand, saying that the nation has opened appointment capability for B1 and B2 visas (enterprise and journey) for Indians.
On January 21, the US Mission in India launched the primary in a sequence of particular Saturday interview days to scale back wait occasions for first-time visa candidates. The US Embassy in New Delhi and Consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad all opened consular operations on Saturday to accommodate candidates who require in-person visa interviews.
The US Mission will proceed to open extra slots for appointments to happen on choose Saturdays, based on the assertion launched by US Embassy in India. These extra interview days are among the many measures which were taken to handle the backlog in visa processing attributable to COVID-19.
The US Division of State has carried out distant processing of interview waiver circumstances for candidates with earlier US visas. In line with the assertion, dozens of momentary consular officers from Washington and different embassies will arrive in India to extend processing capability in January-March.