The team of American officials present in India has issued a record 14 lakh US visas in the year 2023. This number is much higher than before. At the same time, visitor visa appointment waiting time has reduced by 75 percent.
The US Embassy and Consulates in India said Indians now account for one in every 10 US visa applicants worldwide.
Applications increased by 60 percent
“U.S. Embassies and Consulates in India issued a record 1.4 million U.S. visas in 2023. Demand across all visa categories was unprecedented and applications increased by 60 percent compared to 2022,” it said in a statement. One in ten American visa applicants in the U.S.”
Appointment waiting time reduced from 1,000 days to 250 days
Visitor visas (B1/B2) have reached the second highest number of applications in the history of the US mission, with more than seven million applications. Process improvements and investment in staffing have reduced appointment wait times for visitor visas from an average of 1,000 days to just 250 days across the country.
More than one lakh forty thousand student visas issued
The statement said that the US Consulate team in India issued more than one lakh forty thousand student visas in 2023. This is higher than any other country in the world, making records for the third consecutive year.
Highest number of Indian students to graduate in America
Additionally, the consular team in India has particularly expedited the visa process in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. This has made Indian students the largest group of international graduate students in the US. Of the more than one million foreign students studying in America, more than a quarter are Indians.
More than 3.8 lakh employment visas issued
The US Embassy and Consulate further said that ‘Employment Visa’ remains the top priority for us. Consular Team India said it has issued more than 3,80,000 employment visas for Indians and their family members in 2023.
At the same time, Mumbai Consulate General has also resolved 31 thousand immigration visa cases pending since the time of the pandemic. To speed up the visa process, a new center at a cost of $340 million was opened in Hyderabad in March last year.
