NEW DELHI: The United States has made more visa applicants eligible for interview waiver and will for the first time send some of these “drop box” applications from India abroad for adjudication in a bid to cut the painfully long visa wait time here. This will enable the consulate staff in India, which is being gradually ramped up, to tackle the massive backlog as the appointment waiting period for first time B1 (business)/B2 (tourism) visa applicant in Mumbai is just short of the 1,000-day mark at 975.
Now, Indians whose US B1 (business)/B2 (tourism) visas expired within four years — instead of one year earlier — of applying for a new one under the same category will be eligible for drop box, said a senior official of the US Embassy in Delhi on Thursday. The biggest change is for the work “H (that includes H1B) & L” and student visa categories.
“If student, H & L applicants had a US visa of any category irrespective of when it expired, they can use the drop box. As a result, several young Indians who have had been to America on a tourist visa earlier will now be eligible for interview waiver while applying for a student visa in most cases. They may be called for biometrics if the same were not taken during earlier visit/s,” said the official, adding a “pretty good” number of Indian student visa applicants had been to the US earlier on tourist visas.
The US has drawn up a priority visa processing list as staffing in its India missions is expected to reach pre-Covid levels only by next summer while post Omicron travel demand is back “much earlier” than initially thought. “India is number one priority for Washington. (Before Covid) in normal years, the maximum demand for US visas used to come from Mexico, China and then India. Now till China lifts travel restrictions, India has jumped to the second spot. We anticipate granting the maximum number of visas to Indians this year too,” said the official.
While as per the plan students will get priority during admission seasons, the primary main focus is on H & L work visas drop box cases as they have not been able to come to India and visit their families for some years now. “If you are in America and your H1 has expired, or you were a student and got a H1 change (meaning got a job after completing studies and then this visa), you don’t have to come back to India to get the visa stamped. You are legal. But when you want to come to India, you need to get the visa stamped before returning to the US. This appointment category had got packed up due to which many people could not come home. We are tackling this very furiously and had recently released a lakh appointments for them,” said the official.
B1 and B2 drop box cases — which currently have a wait time of nine months — are next on the list. Crew visas for airline and shipping company employees will come next.
H & L applicants not eligible for drop box and have to be interviewed, along with B1 and B2 hopefuls are next. Cutting business and visitor visa wait time is still a long way off due to the massive backlog. “My advice to them is keep applying. Once the line starts moving, you can seek an earlier date for an interview,” said the official, adding things may start changing in about nine months.
Asked why the appointment wait time for other countries is nowhere near that of India, the official said India sees high demand for visas under all the four different heads — student; hi-tech workers (H & L); tourism-business and crew ship workers. “Most countries the demand is for B1/B2, they don’t have those many student applications. Only China had a demand similar to India for different US visa categories but they are in a very different situation. Right now the demand for visas is low due to travel restrictions both within and out of China, thereby leading to a lower waiting period there. Many visa applicants (in China) can’t get to our consulates,” the official said.
With China out, US missions in India are seeing the maximum demand for visas globally. “We issued a record 82,000 student visas in India this past summer. This was the first time Indian students trumped Chinese that usually sends 1.1-1.2 lakh students every year. They could do only 50,000 this time,” the official said. In its “busiest year” in India, US missions received 11-12 lakh applications (about a lakh a month) and they see reaching those numbers next summer.
On immigrant visas, the official said: “Before Covid, Mumbai was the busiest consulate (for applications). By (next) summer, it will be back there.”

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