US Visa Appointment Wait Time Reduces By 75% And Demands Up By 60%

US processed highest number of visas than ever before during 2023 and cut down the waiting time for visitor visa appointment by 75%. A combination of increase in staff, innovations and increased efficiency resulted this, the US embassy said in a statement.

The number of visa applicants was up by 60% in comparison to the 2022. Over the past year, US embassy and consulates processed 1.4 million visas. Indians represents 1 out of every 10 visa applicants across the world and demanded for all types of visas in 2023, the official records revealed.

US mission could fulfil the unprecedent demand for visa application through a staff surge for 3 months in Mumbai early in 2023, by infusing more permanent staff levels and using innovative technical solutions to handle the bulk applications, the statement said. More than 7,00,000 applicants applied for visitor or B1 and B2 visas which now represents second highest number of applications for the US.

Process improvements and investment in staffing reduced the appointment wait time for visitors’ visas from an average of 1,000 days to 250 days across the country. The official data said, “Wait times are minimal in all other categories”.

Information revealed under the official statement, “Taken individually, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai now stand as the top four student visa processing posts in the world. As a result of these surging numbers, Indian students have become the largest group of international graduate students in the US and make up more than a quarter of the over one million foreign students studying in the US”.

According to the information provided by embassy, to streamline the procedure further, in 2024, a pilot programme will allow eligible H1B visa holders to renew visas in the US. A new $340 million facility was opened in Hyderabad in March last year and two new facilities were announced in Ahmedabad and Bangalore.