US visa: 'Every effort made to trim waiting time for Indian applicants'

US state department spokesperson on Wednesday (January 5) said that the United States is making every effort to reduce the waiting time for visa interview appointments in India as quickly as possible.

According to state department spokesperson Ned Price, visa processing is recovering faster than projected and over the coming year, they expect it to reach pre-pandemic processing levels.

Further, he told reporters at his daily news conference that the US issued more student visas in fiscal year 2022 than in any year since 2016, he said. And added 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.

Also read: US issued over 14,600 Indian student visas in 5 months: Report

“We issued nearly 1,25,000 student visas. We recognise that some applicants may still face extended visa wait times, and we are 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.

Responding to a question, Price said he certainly understands the frustrations of those having long wait times. “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. We are committed to safeguarding national security while facilitating legitimate travel to non-immigrant travellers, he said.

“And 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 are still working to respond to the significant demand for visa services,” he added.

Also read: US Embassy in India opens interview portal for student visa applicants

Price 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 United States.

“We are successfully lowering visa wait times worldwide. We’ve doubled our hiring of US foreign service personnel to do this important work. Visa processing is recovering faster than projected and over the coming year, we expect to reach pre-pandemic processing levels, he said in response to a question.