VOIWORLD
Indian nationals applying for US visas now have to wait a lot less time, with Delhi seeing the largest reduction in wait times—from 542 days to only 37 days for B1/B2 visa interview appointments. Improvements have also been recorded by other consulates: the wait times in Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata have decreased from 526 days to 341 days, 539 days to 126 days, and 596 days to 322 days, respectively.
After COVID-19, the process of obtaining a US visa for travel or business has been complicated. When you desired a visa appointment where an interview was required (for a B1/B2 visa), you had to wait up to 1000 days (three years or more) in November 2022 since the consulates in India had to slash personnel and send them back to the US. Applications for Dropbox Visa renewals have been simpler and processed more quickly.
As per the US Embassy in India, 250,000 new appointments were added for B1/B2 visa interviews over the weekend. The US Embassy tweeted Wednesday, “It was a busy weekend for our consular team! Over the weekend, we opened over a quarter million nonimmigrant visa appointments”.
Consequently, waiting times have dropped significantly for a new US visa appointment. In the capital, this wait lasted 542 days, or over 1.5 years, as of last week. Although the wait times at Delhi have decreased the most, there has been a noticeable reduction at several other consulates as well. The wait time for B1/B2 interviews in Kolkata is now 126 days, down from 539 last week, according to the State Department website as of this Wednesday. Mumbai’s days have decreased to 322 from 596 the previous week. Chennai has decreased from 526 days to 341. The only city with a little increase—from 506 days to 511 days—is Hyderabad.
Over the years, many people have been unable to go to the US and have missed significant life events with their family members since the US does not offer many exclusions about where one might qualify for an urgent visa appointment. The US stated that it has opened a huge number of new appointments and that the wait times for an appointment for a US visa have dramatically decreased (from around 1.5 years to two weeks in certain situations). This means that the challenges with US visas could finally be resolved. If you need an appointment for a US visa, schedule one online right now.
