As worries over visa delays have gripped Indians, with many of them being students, the US Consulate in Mumbai has assured that a vast majority of student visa applicants this summer will be able to interview on time for their program start dates.
Still hope for students
“The U.S. Embassy and consulates have set aside the majority of appointments for June, July, and August for students and have expanded interview waiver eligibility to help as many as possible utilise this convenient application stream,” Jessica Doyle, Acting Spokesperson, U.S. Consulate General, Mumbai told the Free Press Journal
Reasons for the visa backlog
The US Mission has attributed the reason for the heavy backlog to a near-complete shutdown and freezing of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As part of this recovery from the pandemic, the U.S. government is prioritising national-interest and repeat travel (for applicants who have already had a U.S. visa), which may mean that some travellers applying for their first visitor visa experience a longer wait time,” stated Doyle, who added that students, temporary agricultural workers, other workers, and key business travellers will make up the priority groups for US visa.
What the US government is doing to address the issue
To reduce visa wait times and backlogs for millions of individuals, including students, tourists, workers, etc, the US government is reportedly onboarding and training new employees due to the consular staffing gaps created by the pandemic. “The Department of State has doubled consular hiring of U.S. officers this fiscal year over last year, and newly trained employees are making their way to overseas consular adjudicator positions, including in India,” claimed Doyle.
US Mission on track to achieve a new high
The US Mission to India is supposedly on track to process more student visas in June-August 2022 than in any previous year. More than 200,00 Indian students are studying in the States this year, making up more than 20 percent of international students currently in the country.
While adding that appointment wait times will fluctuate as they fill and new appointments are opened, based on their interview capacity, Doyle directed students to https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas.html to have a look for all posts in India and around the world.
The speculation over delays stemmed from the US State Department website showing an average waiting time for visas to be about one-and-a-half years, which means the ones who are planning to apply now will get an appointment for March-April 2024.
