WASHINGTON: Visa ...
its all over you wish to be, went the tag line in a well-known credit card commercial in the 1990s.
Not so easy to gain access to for Indians though is the United States visa.
Dealing with a huge stockpile and wait times of as much as 2 years for US visa consultations in India, the United States State Department is rolling out a series of steps to make sure Indians wanting to go America for research studies, work, company, and household check outs can get visas much faster and more conveniently.At an instruction on Tuesday, US authorities detailed moves that have actually already lowered wait times for visas from over 1,000 days to 580 days while acknowledging it needs to be decreased further.
Steps taken include rising staff to US embassy and consulates in India, interview waiver for low-risk tourists including those who have gone to United States before, and directing embassies and consulates in other nations, such as Thailand, where wait times are simply days, to accept visa applications from Indians.Additional steps consist of a pilot program beginning in summertime to restore domestic visa renewals-- which were ceased in 2004-- that will save guest employees from needing to return home to restore their visas.
We are definitely committed to getting us out of the scenario, United States Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs Julie Stufft told reporters and Indian-American community leaders at the rundown, describing it as a once in a lifetime circumstance.
Officials attributed the prolonged wait times to not just Covid-year backlogs however likewise to the huge demand in India for United States visas that is inherently different from any other country and reflected the strong people-to-people ties.
People-to-people ties in between our 2 nations are really the bedrock of what is one of the most consequential relationships worldwide ...
we cant underscore that sufficient and so resolving the wait time (issues) is crucial not just to maintain these people-to-people ties but also to expand that area, Deputy Assistant Secretary for India Nancy Jackson asserted, including that the matter is a top concern for authorities from Secretary of State Antony Blinken down.
The officials held the instruction at the effort of the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) which has actually been working to solve the logjam that has inconvenienced 10s of countless students, guest workers, business individuals, and households.
The disruption has actually been intensified by growing number of pink slips in the tech sector, where Indian guest workers on H1B visas who are laid off have to discover alternative employment within two months or self-deport.
Officials stated the US missions have actually issued 36% more visas in India than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic in India, and while that is a huge percentage of development, the wait times are still not ideal.
Even the staff rise into India and their doing extremely Saturdays and working weekend was not adequate to resolve the concern so the bureau is doing something it has actually not done in almost 20 years-- a domestic or stateside visa renewal.
The renewal alternatives will be readily available to H-1B, H-4, L-1 and L-2 visa holders and might become broadened to other categories.
Officials decreased to expose numbers of the personnel rise into India, however dozens of short-lived consular officers from Washington and other embassies are said to have actually been deputed to India to increase processing capacity.