The US embassy in India said it has processed over 10,00,000 non-immigrant visa applications so far this year, a first for India. As compared to pre-Covid 2019 and 2022, this is an almost 20% increase. “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 embassy said while welcoming this growth.
More than 12,00,000 Indians travelled to the US last year. According to the US embassy, a pilot scheme that would provide domestic visa renewal for qualifying H and L category employment visa applicants will be put into place early in the next year.
US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said: “Our partnership with India is one of the United States’ most important bilateral relationships and in fact one of the most important relationships in the world. The ties between our people are stronger than ever, and we will continue our record-setting volume of visa work in the coming months to give as many Indian applicants as possible the opportunity to travel to the US and experience the US-India friendship first hand.”
Although this is significantly less than the roughly three years it reached last winter, the wait time for B1/B2 visiting visa applications in India is still about 1.5 years.