Nicholas Manring, Chief of Consular Services, US Consulate General, Chennai said that there has been a 15 per cent increase in the applications for NIV (2,00,000),
as compared to the previous year.
Manring was speaking at an interactive session on US Visa Guidance Programme, organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), here on Wednesday.
P Varadan, MD, Comfort Leisure Pvt Ltd spoke at the session, giving pointers on how and what to improve in the process of getting a US visa.
In the case of people aged above 80 not required to appear at the visa centres, he said, “The age bar needs to be reduced to 70. The use of drop boxes (via courier or mail), instead of appearing for interviews at consulates, should be an option for those aged above 70,” said Varadan.
One-time affair
He also said that the process of undergoing fingerprint scanning and verification for renewal of passports can be abolished and made a one-time affair during application for a fresh passport.
The problem of not having visa application forms in a simple ‘pdf’ file format is also a cause for concern, claimed Varadan.
Answering to these points, Manring promised to look into each problem over the coming months and recommend the same to other officials.
Manring spoke in detail about the different categories of visa provided by the US and added that 49 per cent of ‘H1B’ visas (for skilled workers) from across the world, come from India.
Refusal of applications has also come down to a mere 10 per cent, indicating that business between both countries is at its best, he added.