The US has finally launched new initiatives to cut delays in visa processing in India. These include scheduling special interviews for first-time applicants and increasing the strength of consular staff in the country.

The US embassy in Delhi and the consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad conducted “special Saturday interview days” on January 21.

“On January 21, the US mission in India launched the first in a series of special Saturday interview days, as part of a larger effort to reduce wait times for first-time visa applicants,” the US embassy said.
What is the wait time for Indian visa applicants? As of Monday (January 23), the wait time for Indian visa applicants for the US was 535 days for (B1/B2) visas. B1 is a business visa, while B-2 is a tourism visa. For F, M, and J visas for students and exchange programs, the wait time for an interview is 90 days.

For H, L, O, P, and Q visas, which are for Petition-Based Temporary Workers, the wait time is 83 days. For C, D, C1/D visas, which are for Crew and Transit, the current wait time for an interview appointment is 84 days.

What are the new initiatives? The United States Embassy in New Delhi and consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad all opened consular operations on Saturday and released more than 2,50,000 additional B1/B2 appointments, reported PTI.

The US mission in India will continue to open additional slots” or appointments to take place on select Saturdays in the coming months. “These additional interview days are just one component of a multi-pronged initiative to address the backlog in visa processing caused by COVID-19,” it said.

The US embassy said that between January and March 2023, dozens of temporary consular officers from Washington and other embassies will arrive in India to increase visa processing capacity.

Plan to go back to pre-Covid status: The embassy said that by this summer, the US mission in India will be at full staffing and they expect to be processing visas at levels from before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The statement said as travel restrictions have been lifted, the mission to India has made it a priority to facilitate legitimate travel and adjudicated over 8,00,000 nonimmigrant visas in 2022, including record numbers of both student and employment visas.

Focus on student visas: The US embassy said that initially, the focus is on student visas while addressing the backlog.

After issuing more than 82,000 visas to Indian students in 2022, the focus shifted to reducing the wait times for non-immigrant work visas such as the H and L categories, including the coveted H-1B visas, B-1 business visa, B-2 tourism visa, and visas for crews of shipping companies and airlines.

The US embassy and its consulates in India have launched several new initiatives to cut wait time and increase visa processing across the country.

The current wait-time for Indian visitors is 500-600 days.

The US mission said its services in India had been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, creating a large backlog.

It affected several Indian businesses and thousands of Indians who rely on the visa to live and work in the US.

“Our consular teams across India are putting in the extra hours to meet the needs of international travellers and bring down wait times,” Mumbai Consular Chief John Ballard said in a statement on the embassy website.

“This is part of a mission-wide effort to find innovative solutions to facilitate travel to the United States,” he added.

For Indians applying for work visas, the wait time currently ranges from 60-280 days while the wait time for visitors is approximately 1.5 years.

The long wait time for Indian visitors is in contrast to those from European cities where it is about 20 days.

Applicants in Asian cities such as Beijing and Colombo have to wait approximately 30-35 days, estimates from the US State Department show.

India’s wait time has, however, improved from the nearly three years that many applicants faced in 2022.

The US Mission has said its embassies in Delhi and consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad will now be open on Saturdays to accommodate applicants who require in-person visa interviews.

The consulate general in Mumbai has also extended its operating hours on weekdays to make space for additional appointments.

The mission said the US State Department would soon increase the number of consular officers permanently assigned to offices in India.

By March, it will also incorporate dozens of temporary consular officers from Washington and other embassies to increase its processing capacity.

“The US mission to India has made it a priority to facilitate legitimate travel and adjudicated over 800,000 non-immigrant visas in 2022, including record numbers of both student and employment visas,” its statement said.

It added that it released 250,000 additional B1/B2 visa appointments – required for visitors – in 2022.

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US Visa application update: The US has announced plans to expand the premium processing of some of the important categories of green card applicants and some categories of visas, particularly those related to training of foreign students. US Citizenship and Immigration Services said this is part of its efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens on the overall legal immigration system.

The expansion of these categories would be carried out in phases beginning with the premium processing of EB-1 and EB-2 applications of Green cards.

“In March, we will expand premium processing to certain F-1 students seeking Optional Practical Training (OPT) and F-1 students seeking STEM OPT extensions who have a pending Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization,” USCIS said.

This will be in addition to all previously filed Form I-140 petitions under an E13 multinational executive and manager classification, or E21 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a National Interest Waiver (NIW), US Citizenship and Immigration Services said.

“In April, we will expand premium processing to F-1 students seeking OPT and F-1 students seeking STEM OPT extensions who are filing an initial Form I-765,” it said.

It appears USCIS has taken these decisions on the basis of recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), made last year by one of its Indian American members, Ajay Jain Bhutoria.

The presidential commission had said that historically, premium processing has only been available to petitioners filing Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and to certain employment-based immigrant visa petitioners filing Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers.

“We recommend expanding premium processing services, giving applicants the option to pay between USD 2,500 to expedite their applications,” it said.

This measure should go into effect in 60 days by August 2022, and USCIS should follow a phased approach to implement premium processing for the following cases: a. Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, it said.

Among those recommended were EB-1 Multinational Executive or Manager, EB-2 Member of Professions Holding an Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability seeking a National Interest Waiver (NIW), I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, and I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.

“It is recommended USCIS Expand premium processing to additional employment-based green card applications, all work permit petitions and temporary immigration status extension requests, allowing applicants to pay $2,500 to have their cases adjudicated within 45 days in a phased approach,” recommended the presidential advisory commission.

The US is making every effort to reduce the waiting time for a visa interview appointment in India, a top State Department official has said, asserting that the visa processing is recovering faster than projected and is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels over the coming year.

Addressing the growing concern over the backlog of visa applications from countries like India, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Wednesday that he certainly understands the frustrations of those who have to wait for a long time.

As of November 2022, the median worldwide wait time for a tourist visa (B1/B2) interview appointment was about two months, and applicants with urgent travel needs who meet certain criteria can apply for an emergency appointment, usually available within days.

“Visa processing is recovering faster than projected and over the coming year, we expect to reach pre-pandemic processing levels,” Price said.

The US issued more student visas in the fiscal year 2022 than in any year since 2016, he said, adding that its embassy and consulates in India in particular broke their all-time record for the number of student visas issued in a single fiscal year.

“We issued nearly 1,25,000 student visas. We recognise that some applicants may still face extended visa wait times, and we’re making every effort to further reduce visa interview appointment wait times as quickly as possible in India and around the world, including for first-time tourist visa applicants,” he said.

“I can tell you that it is a priority of the Secretary and of the Department to do everything we can to reduce that backlog and ultimately to reduce the wait times,” he said.

He said the State Department was committed to facilitating legitimate travel to the US while safeguarding national security.

“We know that timely visa processing is essential to the US economy and to the administration’s goal of family reunification. We’ve made great strides in recovering from pandemic-related closures and staffing challenges, but we’re still working to respond to the significant demand for visa services,” Price said.

He said the demand for visa services has only increased as pandemic restrictions have eased in countries across the world and people are looking for opportunities to travel to the US.

“We are successfully lowering visa wait times worldwide. We’ve doubled our hiring of US Foreign Service personnel to do this important work,” he said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in September raised the issue of the backlog of visa applications from India to which the top American diplomat said he was sensitive to the matter and has the plan to address it.

The State Department has said in the past that has made great strides in returning to pre-pandemic visa processing levels and in reducing appointment wait times.

Indians make up a large proportion of the recipients of H-1B and other work visas granted to skilled foreign workers, many in the tech industry.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

According to travel.state.gov reports on October 31, there is an average of 900+ days’ wait time for appointments for visitors’ visas (B1/B2), an average of 400 days wait time for students (F, M,J), and an average 300 days’ wait time for petition-based temp workers like H, L, O, P and Q across the US consulates in India (Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata).

The United States of America has long been hailed as a popular student destination owing to the reputation of its universities and the prestige attached to studying in them. The US is home to some of the best universities and colleges in the world. Students gain a plethora of exposure and are introduced to a world of networking opportunities through these universities and colleges.

There are plenty of reasons that have kept the country’s higher education popular among students even today, let’s look at some of them below :

THE POPULARITY OF STEM COURSES
Courses in the field of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) are the most popular, especially among Indian students studying in the US. Estimates suggest that during the year 2020-21, 77 percent of the Indian students studying in the country were enrolled in STEM courses.

Of these, approximately 35 percent were part of computer science and mathematics courses. Additionally, as of 2022, the US government announced the Optional Practical Training Programme, which gave students enrolled in STEM courses the opportunity to find internships and stay in the country for up to 36 months. This gives them a distinct advantage over their colleagues enrolled in other courses.

THE EASE OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS

Universities in the US have taken special measures to ensure that their application process is simple and without hurdles in a bid to attract more international students. For instance, approximately 84 percent of US universities offer the chance to students to complete their application process online, and a large cohort has also enabled the online submission of immigration forms.

This is a significant incentive for students worldwide to apply to these universities. Furthermore, those enrolled in a college in the US can easily transfer their credits if they get selected for a better college during their course.

THE FLEXIBILITY IN COURSE SELECTION

Students enrolled at universities in the US can choose not only their college and the programme but also the courses they want to study within the programme. Most offer a wide variety of unconventional combinations that are otherwise not available in other universities.

Not only this, but universities in the US also allow students to take a gap year, giving them more flexibility to explore and balance their lives parallelly.

For example, those pursuing an undergraduate degree here can enroll in different courses before deciding on the subject they want to major in, in their second year of education.

Graduate students, on the other hand, can choose from a myriad of electives along with their main subjects. This way, they are not stuck with a course they do not want to study and can make an informed choice.

GREATER EXPOSURE

The US welcomes students across nations; it’s a global hub for international students. Thus, every student enrolled gets exposed to a milieu of new cultures and ways of living.

Such exposure is excellent for personal and professional development. The students learn to adapt and work well in a team. This is a desirable quality for employers across spectrums, opening up more opportunities for students from these universities.

BOTTOMLINE
Universities in the US have emerged as an attractive option to students worldwide, particularly to Indian students wishing to pursue higher education. The aforementioned factors are just a few reasons why the country is one of the go-to options for students from across the globe for university education.

Not to mention that the USA’s colleges also offer flexibility in course selection with career guidance programmes besides the attractive employment opportunities the country offers. For the foreseeable future, the US is likely to remain a popular destination for students looking to live the American Dream.