US Sets Visa Records in India, Visitor Visa Appointment Wait Time Down By 75 Per Cent

New Delhi: The United States processed a record number of visas to Indians in 2023, bringing down the wait time for visitor visa appointments by 75% through a combination of staffing increases, innovations and increased efficiency. 

In 2023, the US embassy in India processed 1.4 million visas, claimed an official statement, adding that there was a 60 per cent increase in visa applications from Indians compared to 2022.

Notably, Indians now represent one out of every 10 US visa applicants across the world and demand for all types of visas was “unprecedented” in 2023, the US embassy said in a statement.

The visitor or B1 and B2 visas now represent the second highest number of applications in the US Mission's history at more than 700,000. The US embassy mentioned that the demand was met through increasing staff numbers for three months in Mumbai early in 2023. “Innovative technical solutions were used and permanent staff levels were increased to meet the rapid rising demands.” 

Average Wait Time Down to 250 Days From 1,000

Process improvements and investments in staffing brought the appointment wait time for visitor visas down from an average of 1,000 days to 250 days across India. “Wait times are minimal in all other categories,” the statement said. The US missions in India issued more than 140,000 student visas in 2023 – more than in any other country in the world, setting a record for the third year in a row, the statement said.

“Taken individually, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Chennai now stand as the top four student visa processing posts in the world. As a result of these surging numbers, Indian students have become the largest group of international graduate students in the US and make up more than a quarter of the over one million foreign students studying in the US,” the statement said.