NEW DELHI: The US Embassy in India has issued a record 90,000 student visas this Summer (July-August). With this, almost one in four student visas issued worldwide, was issued in India.
“The US Mission in India is pleased to announce that we issued a record number – over 90,000 – of student visas this Summer/ in June, July, and August. This summer almost one in four student visas worldwide was issued right here in India!” the US Embassy in India wrote on ‘X’ formerly Twitter on Monday.
The US Embassy then congratulated students who have chosen the United States to make their higher education goals a reality.
Recently, United States Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said that the wait time for first-time tourist visa interviews has been reduced by more than 50 per cent, adding that the goal for 2023 is to process at least one million visas.
Speaking at IIT Delhi, Garcetti highlighted the progress made in visa processing, stating that the US Mission in India is currently processing visas faster than ever before.
Addressing the audience at IIT Delhi, Garcetti said, "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."
India and the US have taken several initiatives to make the visa process smooth. Earlier, during his visit to the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that Indian professionals will no longer need to leave America for the renewal of their H-1B visas.
The United States authorities announced that they will introduce 'in-country' renewable H-1B visas as part of the people-to-people initiative to smoothen the process of H-1B visa renewal.
PM Modi had also announced that the United States will open new consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
Meanwhile, India is going to open a new consulate in Seattle this year. Apart from this, Indian Consulates will be opened in 2 more cities in America.
Earlier in June speaking at the US embassy, US envoy to India Eric Garcetti had said that one of every 5 student visas were issued in India.
"One out of every 5 US students visa was issued here in India in 2022. One out of five in the world which is morethan the proportion of the Indian population in the world," Garcetti had said
"So, Indians have not only pursued an education in the United States but for decades have shown their excellence in the United States and we are on track to process the highest number of visa applications in our history"Garcetti added.
