The wait time for first-time United States tourist visa interviews has been cut by over 50 per cent, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said on Wednesday. Highlighting the improved speed of visa processing, he further said that the target for 2023 is to process at least one million tourist visas.
Garcetti’s statement comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his three-day state visit to the United States at the invitation of President Joe Biden and Jill Biden.
Addressing the audience at IIT Delhi, Garcetti said the US Mission in India is currently processing visas faster than ever before. "We're already doing this. We're currently processing more visas, faster, than the US Mission in India ever has before. We have set a goal for ourselves to process at least a million visas in 2023, and we're already more than halfway towards reaching that goal," Garcetti said, according to an ANI report.
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"Our investments have brought real results, and we've seen wait times for first-time tourist visa interviews fall by more than 50 per cent," he added.
The US ambassador emphasised the importance of expanding visa operations and increasing staff to remove barriers for qualified travelers visiting United States.
India and US are making effort to make the visa process smooth.
During his address to Indian audience in the US, PM Modi announced that Indian professionals can renew their H-1B work visas without travelling abroad.
"It has now been decided that the H-1B visa renewal can be done in the US itself," he said at the Ronald Regan Building in Washington.
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Modi also said that the US will open new consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. India will open new consulate in Seattle this year and two more cities in America.
