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US Plans to issue 1 lakh visas each month to Indian applicants" on priority

Get ready for reduced waiting time of US visa grant. As per the statement of senior official of the US embassy said on Thursday ”The waiting period for issuance of American visas is expected to see a significant fall by summer of 2023 and the number of visa applications is projected to reach around 1.2 million”. It is clearly stated that India got America’s top priority for issuance of visas. As per the official information over 82,000 visas were awarded by the US in the last one year.

This big step is taken to bring the situation back to the pre-Covid-19 level by the middle of year 2023.  It is because India is one of the very few countries whose applications for US visas saw a major upswing after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

The Bureau of Consular Affairs who is responsible for issuing visas had to take strict actions due to Covid-19. After that people have to wait for a long time to get grant of visas. For some categories the visa process waiting day’s reached up to more than 800 days. Now visa applications, including from India, registered a massive jump which leads them to increase staffing.

 Initiatives in process:

After considering about the long wait time for visa grants, the US is taking some initiatives including hiring of more personnel and increasing the "drop box" facilities. The drop box facility is the process used to apply for renewal of a US visa without the visa interview.

Now US will be initially focusing on applicants using the “drop box” facility, or those with already holding a US visa and are exempted from interviews. Only the applications with a US visa within a span of the last four years are eligible for drop box facility. First time applicants will have to wait a little longer.

It means that the wait times for US visas will be brought down by the middle of 2023. 

Progress has been already made through some changes in rules. It was seen after opening of 100,000 slots for H and L work visa for applications who need to renew their visa. Even the wait time for business (B1) and tourism (B2) visa applicants is also reduced.  

The plan is to issue around one lakh visas every month to reach the target of 1.2 million visas to Indians by next summer. Currently in terms of the number of visas being issued by the US, India holds the third position after Mexico and China. It is expected that soon India will jump to the second position.