US working to reduce visitor visa wait time for Indians

The United States has slashed visa wait times by 75% and is now striving to further reduce the waiting period, particularly for Indian tourists traveling to the US for the first time. Rena Bitter, Assistant Secretary of the US Bureau of Consular Affairs, confirmed this effort.

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Visa Processing Improvements: Significant Reductions and Ongoing Efforts

In an interview with PTI, Bitter noted that today more Indians can travel to the United States than in any other time in history.

“Last year, the Embassy in India processed 1.4 million visas, explosion of an incredible number…in every category there is no wait time at all except in one area of travel where there is still some wait time and that is people travelling for the first time to the United States for tourism,” she said.

“It has been reduce 75 per cent over the last year and we are working really hard on this. We recognise that it is an incredibly important bilateral relationship and the foundation of the relationship is the people-to-people ties, the business travel and the family ties. All these things are important to us and in Washington we are doing a lot of work to support this post (Indian) so they can meet the exploding demand,” she added.

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Narendra Modi’s Discussions with US: Emphasis on H1B Visa Concerns

Asked about the plans for H1B visa, Bitter said the pilot programme which is underway to permit Indians living in the US to renew their H1B visa without travelling abroad will conclude in February.

Indian embassy issued 34 per cent more H1B visas last year which is also the maximum in the history of the post. We take this issue seriously and this was a huge topic of conversation between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden during their meeting last year.