US Embassy in India surpasses goal of processing 1 mn non-immigrant visas

The US mission in India on Thursday surpassed its goal of processing one million non-immigrant visa applications this year, with Ambassador Eric Garcetti personally handing over the millionth visa to a couple heading to the United States to attend their son’s graduation ceremony . MIT.

Dr. Ranju Singh, Senior Consultant, Lady Hardinge College was delighted when he received an email from the US Embassy informing him that it had been granted the millionth visa this year. Her husband Puneet Dargan was granted the following visa. The couple will travel to the US in May 2024.

Ambassador Garcetti greeted the couple with “Mr and Mrs One million”, inquired about their travel plans to the US and made suggestions on what not to miss in the country as a tourist.

“I couldn’t be happier today, happy for India, Indians and the United States. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President (Joe) Biden had said let’s do better by moving faster on the visa front and that’s why the Ministry of External Affairs has approved more agencies in places like Hyderabad. .more people who can work on these visas, we’ve changed our systems, we’ve worked harder and smarter and we’ve processed a million visa applications this year,” the ambassador 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 volume of visa work in the coming months to give as many Indian applicants as possible the opportunity to travel to the United States and experience the US-India friendship firsthand ”, he added.

The Mission has already surpassed the total number of cases handled in 2022 and is processing almost 20 percent more applications than in 2019 before the pandemic.

“We got an email after we finished our visa interviews that we had to pick up our visas, we were told we were the millionth… the ambassador’s meeting with us was a great moment for us. We’re looking forward to it out If we want to go to the US, we will be there at MIT to celebrate our son’s proud day and then explore the country as tourists,” Dr Singh told PTI.

Dargan said their son is currently pursuing his Masters in Financial Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“This will be our first trip to the US. We are really looking forward to it,” he said.

Last year, more than 1.2 million Indians visited the United States. Indians now represent more than 10 percent of all visa applicants worldwide, including 20 percent of all student visa applicants and 65 percent of all H&L category (work) visa applicants.

According to a statement from the U.S. Embassy here, recognizing the continued high demand for U.S. visas, the United States continues to invest heavily in our operations in India.

“Over the past year, the Mission has expanded its workforce to accommodate more visa processing than ever before. The Mission has made significant capital improvements to existing facilities, such as the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, and inaugurated a new consulate building in Hyderabad.

“The Mission has also implemented strategies to increase efficiency, extend interview waiver eligibility to new visa categories and leverage remote work to enable staff around the world to contribute to Indian visa processing . Early next year, the Mission plans to implement a pilot program that will allow domestic visa renewal for qualified H&L category employment visa applicants,” the report said.