HYDERABAD: The United States Embassy and Consulates in India issued a “record-smashing” 1.4 million visas to Indians last year, while bringing down visitor visa appointment wait times by 75 per cent, the US Embassy said in a statement on Monday. It said Indians now represent one out of every ten US visa applicants around the world.
It said that in 2023, the US consular team in India issued over 1.4 lakh student visas, “more than in any other country in the world, setting a record for the third year in a row.” It said Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai individually stood as the top four student visa processing posts in the world.
“Indian students have become the largest group of international graduate students in the United States and make up more than a quarter of the over one million foreign students studying in the United States,” the US Embassy said.
It said that demand across all visa classes was unprecedented, with a 60 per cent increase in applications compared to 2022.
The US Embassy said that Visitor visas (B1/B2) had rebounded to represent the second highest number of applications in the US Mission’s history – over 7 lakh. On employment visas, the consular team consolidated most petition-based visa processing in Chennai and Hyderabad to increase efficiency, leading to the processing of over 3.8 lakh employment visas for Indians and their family members in 2023, and allowing the US Mission to maintain a minimal appointment wait time.
This year, the US Embassy said, a pilot programme will allow eligible H1B holders to renew their visas in the United States, further streamlining the process for this group.
The US Embassy said the demand was met through a three-month staffing surge in Mumbai by increased permanent staff levels, and through the employment of innovative technical solutions. Process improvements and investments in staffing had brought the appointment wait time for visitor visas down from an average of 1,000 days to 250 days around the country. “Wait times are minimal in all other categories,” it said.
