Ishika Kumar, Pune
On Monday, The US mission to India has opened up extra slots of 250,000 vacancies in visa appointments for Indian travellers which includes tourists, skilled workers, students and visitors. Timely interviews can be now taken with ease due to the newly released slots for the Indian applicants, facilitating the travel and empowering the Indo-US relationship
Eric Garcetti the USA’s Ambassador to India said “Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden had set an ambitious goal to improve and expedite the entire visa process. Our consular teams at the embassy along with our four consulates, work hard tirelessly to ensure that we meet the constantly surging demand.”. The Ambassador went on to express his pride in making the process easier as promised for the applicants. In the year of 2024, more than 1.2 million Indians have travelled to the United States, which is 35 percent more than that in 2023.
For a second year in a row, The US Mission to India was able to put up a plummeting number by crossing the threshold of around one million non-immigrant visa applications.
The US Embassy in India were able to help all the first-time student applicants during the student visa season which led to them being able to schedule an appointment at one out of the five consular section across India.
They emphasised on the objective that , “We are now focused on bringing families together, connecting businesses, and facilitating tourism. Six million Indians at the least, already have a non-immigrant visa to visit the United States, and each day, the Mission issues thousands of more,” they added.
Over 1.4 lakh student visas were granted to the Indians in the year of 2023 by the US, this figure is more than any other country in the world, making it a world record for the third consecutive year. The US Embassy and the Consulates had released these figures at the start of 2024.
Amongst the category of foreign students studying in the United States, Indians make up for more than a quarter million making them one of largest group of international grad students. Besides the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the USA retains its place as one of the top four destinations preferred by the Indian students.