US takes steps to reduce visa backlog in India

Washington: The US State Department has quietly implemented recommendations of a presidential commission which has suggested steps like opening up American diplomatic missions outside India for visa appointments to reduce the visa backlog in the country.

India was one of the very few countries where applications for US visas saw a major upswing after coronavirus-related travel restrictions were lifted. Moved by a commission member, Ajay Jain Bhutoria from Silicon Valley, the presidential commission observed that the visa appointment delays running into more than 800 days were causing huge problems for the students and visitors who have plans to come to study in the US and visit the country.

The State Department should allow virtual interviews where applicable and allow staff from embassies around the world and the US consular staff to help conduct the virtual interviews at embassies with high backlogs and help clear them, the commission recommended.

The recommendations included opening up American diplomatic missions outside India for visa appointments, having more counters and deploying additional resources to process visa applications. The US Embassy in India processed over 1 lakh applications just in January 2023, their highest total in a single month and the highest in any month since July 2019. In its December meeting, the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders recommended several steps to reduce the growing delay in visa appointment times in India and other countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.