Travel to the USA from India may have become easier with a recent announcement that the US Embassy in India has opened up 250,000 US visa appointments.
It was a busy weekend for our consular team! Over the weekend we opened over a quarter million nonimmigrant visa appointments!
— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) November 1, 2023
Book yours today at https://t.co/SbQkOpI9vq #HereToServe
This appears to be leading to much reduced visa wait times at some US consulates in India. US visa appointment wait times in New Delhi for B1/B2 visas have dropped from 543 days to just 37 days, and visa appointment wait times in Kolkata are down to 126 days. However, wait times are still extreme at some US consulates. Visa appointment wait times in Chennai still sit at 541 days, and wait times in Hyderabad are 511 days. Hopefully, the additional 250,000 visa appointment slots will help to reduce these numbers.
The desire to shorten the wait for Indian citizens to get a US visa is due to the incredibly important relationship between the two countries. More than 1.2 million Indians visited in the US in 2022. According to a statement from the US Embassy in India, “Indians now represent over 10% of all visa applicants worldwide, including 20% of all student visa applicants and 65% of all H&L-category (employment) visa applicants. The United States welcomes this growth.”
If you’ve been holding off on visiting the USA due to long visa wait times, you may want to reconsider. If you’ve previously been issued a US visa in India, or you’re a minor under 14 years of age or person over 80 years of age, you may be eligible for a US visa interview waiver.
