New Delhi: The US has now swung into action after India raised the issue of long visa waiting lists. The US Embassy is going to increase its staff strength to reduce the waiting time for visas. After External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised the issue of long waits for visas with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week, the US Embassy in Delhi explained the steps being taken to improve the situation.
According to a report in the Times of India, Don Heflin, Minister of Consular Affairs at the US Embassy in New Delhi, said on Thursday that India is going to increase the number of temporary staff and drop boxes at the consulate in less than a year. I hope that I will return to the situation before Corona. Drop Box does not require an appointment for those who previously had a US visa that expired within a certain time frame. These measures will reduce the waiting time for visas. He also said that 1 lakh appointment rooms will be opened for H and L worker visa category in the next few weeks.
The US embassy said the workforce would reach 100 percent by September 2023. Blaming the COVID-19 pandemic for pending visa applications for Indian nationals, the US Embassy in Delhi said it expects the workforce to return to pre-corona levels in less than a year. According to a US website, it has shown an appointment waiting time of 833 days for US visitor visas from India, while the appointment time from China is two days.
In fact, earlier this week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised the issue of pending US visa applications from India with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. On this, America’s top diplomat said that he is sensitive about this issue and he has a plan to resolve it. After the US halted the processing of almost all visa applications across the world in March 2020 due to the pandemic, US visa services are now scrambling to deal with pending applications.
Don Heflin of the US Embassy further said that the good thing is that they are recovering from Kovid and the staff problem is also slowly ending. We had 50 per cent visa staff during and after Corona and now we have 70 per cent. By next year, our staff strength will be 100%. After that we will be able to deal with visa applications as soon as possible. He further said that Washington is sending us temporary (personnel). We are also going to get temporary (staff) from other big embassies.
Acknowledging that B1 (Business) and B2 (Visitors) have the longest waiting times for first time applicants, he said that we are going to work on reducing this also over the next few months. Wait a bit, we’ll fix it soon. Many Indians working in the US on H1 visas are also unable to return home as they have to get their passports stamped before returning. Regarding them, Heflin said that there are people in the US on H and L visas who have not been able to come home and meet their families since the start of Kovid. We have great sympathy for them. We are going to open one lakh appointments for this category of visas in the next few weeks.
What did US Secretary of State Antony Blinken say?
After the US halted the processing of almost all visa applications across the world in March 2020 due to the pandemic, US visa services are now scrambling to deal with pending applications. “Be patient with us,” Blinken said in response to a question about delays in visa applications. It will be streamlined in the next few months, we are paying a lot of attention to it. “On the visa question, I am very sensitive about it,” he said.
Blinken said the US was trying to settle a large number of pending cases. It is to be noted that Indians constitute a large proportion of those who have obtained H-1B and other work visas issued to skilled foreign workers. Most of these are related to the technology sector. The H-1B visa is a nonimmigrant visa that allows US companies to deploy foreign workers for specialized jobs specializing in technology.
Read breaking news first in Hindi News18 Hindi| Read today’s latest news, live news updates, most trusted Hindi news website News18 Hindi|
Tags: S Jaishankar, US Visa
First Published: September 30, 2022, 06:49 IST
