Those who intend to visit the United States will have to wait until 2024 to obtain a visitor visa. It is assumed that those planning to apply now will receive an appointment by March-April 2024, according to an analysis of US State Department website data.
According to the website, visitor visa appointments take an average of 522 days, while student visa appointments take an average of 471 days. If the location is changed to Mumbai, the average wait time for a US visa appointment is 517 days for a visitor visa and 10 days for a student visa, according to the website.
There is a waiting time of 198 days in Delhi for all other non-immigrant visas and 72 days in Mumbai for all other non-immigrant visas.
For Chennai, the visitor visa waiting time is 557 days and 185 days for all other non-immigrant visas. The State Department website states that those applying from Hyderabad will have to wait 518 days to get a visitor visa.
“Wait times for US Embassy and Consulate interviews can vary weekly based on actual incoming workload and staffing. These wait times are estimates only and do not guarantee that an appointment will be available,” the visa page on the website reads.
The US embassy responded to the reports of delays by stating that the Department of State is committed to facilitating legitimate travel to the US for both immigrants and non-immigrants.
“The US government is working to close consular staffing gaps brought on by the pandemic, particularly by onboarding and training additional employees, in order to decrease wait times and backlogs. The number of US consular officers hired by the Department of State this fiscal year compared to last year has doubled, and newly trained staff members are moving into roles as foreign consular adjudicators, including in India, the embassy spokeswoman said in a statement.
After a near-total stoppage and resource freeze during the COVID-19 epidemic, visa processing is now resumed.
The US government is giving priority to repeat and national-interest travel as part of this recovery, which could result in longer wait times for some visitors seeking for their first visitor visa “The statement continued.
While waiting for the applicant’s interview date, the State Department stated that overseas consular offices could be able to expedite the process “if there is an urgent, unforeseen situation such as a funeral, medical emergency, or school start date.”
The volume of visa applications in India has increased by an amount never before seen, according to the visa facilitating service VFS Global, but individual embassies retain the last say.
“VFS Global has continued to handle requests in one business day and submit them to the appropriate embassies.
The different embassies and consulates have the sole discretion to decide whether to provide visas and how quickly “A spokesman for VFS Global said in a statement.
Prior to now, several sources claimed that Canada, the UK, and Schengen states were all experiencing longer visa processing times.
Many individuals are worried about the Canadian authorities’ delay in approving visas, especially in Punjab. The academic year begins in September, but Neetu Yadav, whose brother had sought admission to a university in Canada, informed NDTV that there has been no information on the status of the visa as of yet.
“For a course that begins in a month, my brother had applied for a student visa, but we haven’t received one yet. Furthermore, it is unknown if it has been approved or denied. There is no guarantee that my brother will be admitted even if we postpone the entrance, “She spoke.
According to a report by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, 41% of Indian applicants for student visas had their requests denied in 2021. Currently, there are over 2.4 million pending immigration applications in Canada. Canadian Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser has informed the public that more hires are being made to handle the backlog of cases. Indian students are not subject to discrimination, according to the Canadian government.
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