US to process 8 lakh visas in a year

The United States missions in India hope to process about 8 lakh visas in the next one year even as the efforts to ramp up staff in consular offices are on the full swing.

Briefing journalists here, Donald L Heflin, Minister Counsellor for Consular Affairs at the US Embassy in India, said they have opened several slots for processing the visas. He also said announcements regarding students visa will be made very soon.

"8,00,000 visas are projected to be issued in the next 12 months… we did open a lot of slots for processing the visas. We think of eventually meeting the demand of H and L visas,” Heflin said. To a specific question, he said the US missions in India – the embassy in New Delhi and consulates in Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad – had processed 1.2 millions visas a year before the onset of Covid-19 pandemic.

“We hope to reach that level (12 lakh visas) sometime in 2023 or 2024,” the diplomat added. Heflin said the consular offices in the country have already established dedicated helplines to answer queries on visa and related issues.

To another question, the US diplomat said the embassy was ramping up staff in its consular offices in India. ".. Visa processing was done by 50 per cent of the staff (due to Covid-19).. we will be adding more employees to our offices. We are opening a new big building in Hyderabad. We are adding more staff in New Delhi, Mumbai. Already there is 100 per cent staff in Kolkata," Heflin added.

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