The US embassy and its consulates in India are planning to process a “record” number of visas for Indians this year, Mumbai Consular Chief John Ballard has said, in view of delays and a backlog in almost every visa category.
Currently, the wait time for Indians applying for work visas ranges from 60-280 days, while for travellers, it is around one-and-a-half years. The external affairs ministry has raised the issue of visa delays with the US authorities on several occasions as well as matters related to further ease visas for all categories of Indian travellers.
The embassy adjudicated over 1,25,000 student visas last year, a record number for Indians, and expects even more Indian students to apply for visas this year, Ballard said. He added that the embassy has almost reached its pre-pandemic levels of visa processing, and expects to surpass those levels this year.