US Visa Processing Delay: How to Dodge Appointment Wait Time

Bad news for those who wish to land in the US for their further studies as visa appointment dates might come next year or later in 2024!

According to the US Department of State travel website, the visa processing wait time has increased exponentially in some cities. Hence, they have laid out separate wait times for different US consulates all over India.

US consulates in different cities have separate waiting times as per the appointment availability. In such a scenario, students can look for consulates with a shorter wait for student visa appointments.

The US consulate in New Delhi shows a wait time of 582 calendar days for the appointment of visitor visas and 471 days for the appointment of student visas.

Similarly, the US consulate in Mumbai shows an average wait time of 517 days for a visitor visa but it is just 10 days for a student visa.

The wait time for a visa appointment in Hyderabad is 518 days for a visitor visa and 479 days for a student visa.

For Kolkata, the average wait time for an appointment shows 587 days for a visitor visa. However, it is just 2 days for a student visa.

Lastly, for Chennai, the average wait time shown on the website for a US visa appointment is 513 Calendar days for a visitor visa and 8 days for a student visa.

The main reason behind such delays seems to be the backlog of visa files that had accumulated in US embassies and consulates all around the world due to an extended processing closure at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to an analytical report by the Cato Institute, Washington D.C. based think tank, a precedent for executive intervention may become more probable when appointment wait times become excessive.

“The last time visa wait times grew above a few months, Obama ordered that 80% of all temporary visas be issued in less than 21 days. This executive order (and the knowledge that it was coming) promptly brought visa wait times down to a few days, but former President Trump rescinded the order, and President Biden has failed to re-issue it,” wrote the report.

For more such updates, follow Leverage Edu.