Indians troubled by waiting time of US visa: far from green card, now dream of getting visitor visa too; have to wait two years

Anil Jethwani, who has settled in Florida, is busy preparing for his daughter's wedding, but he is sad that his own will not be able to reach the wedding. 25 close relatives, including his younger brother, live in India. They are not getting the visitor visa appointment before 2024. Many such Indian families are troubled by the waiting time for US visas.

The desire to get thousands of students and employment-based visas is not going to be fulfilled even in 2023 as the limit of 65,000 H1B work visas for 2022-23 has been exhausted. Now its doors will open only in April 2024. In 2019, the number of pending applications for US visas was less than 60 thousand. So the interview appointment was getting every month.

Visa appointment has also become impossible. The waiting time has exceeded 700 days. The waiting time for a visitor visa in Delhi is 758 days and in Mumbai 752 days. However, getting a US tourist visa is not much of a problem.

4.16 lakh applications pending for interview, date not yet fixed for 3.85 lakh applications

As of August 31, 4,16,856 applications were pending for interviews, according to a backlog report by the US National Visa Center. Apart from these, the date of the interview is yet to be fixed for 3,84,681 applications. The agent of a travel agency says that waiting so much means that the visa will be available only after 2023. The visitor visa application fee is Rs.12 thousand. Is. This amount of lakhs of applicants is reaching the US government.

The most troubled youth, who want a student visa

The biggest problem with visa waiting is for those youths who want to study in America. The waiting time for a student visa has exceeded 300 days.

It was more difficult to go to Canada than to America

Travel around the world has come to the pre-covid level, but visas for Canada and New Zealand are also not easily available. Canada's backlog has reached 2.4 million.

Vigilance Rules: Self-declaration on Air Suvidha Portal will continue for those coming to India

All passengers coming from abroad will continue to fill out self-declaration on the Air Suvidha Portal. This is an online form, in which all passengers have to fill in their travel and corona-related information for the last 15 days before boarding.

Travelers argue that when the corona is almost over, then what is the need for this form? In this regard, officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that Corona is not completely over in the world yet. We are keeping the details of each passenger as a precaution so that tracking can be easy later if needed.

The officials of the Ministry of Health and Civil Aviation had decided in a meeting on September 2 that the system of self-declaration would continue, as there is still less vaccination in many countries. We cannot leave the precaution. Anyway, it takes a minute to fill out the form.

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