US Visa wait times to reduce by mid-2023!

The overall wait time for an appointment for a US visa is most likely to improve and get back to the pre-Covid levels by June-July 2023, informed US embassy officials in New Delhi.

Disruptions in Operations after the country was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic became a major reason for the wait times to increase exponentially. With strict guidelines in place as well as lesser staff, the appointment demand for visas piled up and soared high across all categories. The processing time got longer for most routine non-immigrant visa appointments at the US embassy in New Delhi and the consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.

The country had also decided open 100,000 slots for H and L worker visa applicants. The main attention was given especially to the dropbox cases. The embassy had also announced that it would be taking special measures in relation to B1/B2 visas to cut down wait times.

In the case of students, the embassy had planned to conduct interviews starting from mid-November till the end of December. It was announced that the slots for F, M, and J visas will be given a priority line.

Apart from this, the US government has decided upon an initiative wherein the previous holders of US visas will be allowed to completely bypass the interview stage of the application procedure in order to get study visas.

The wait time for F, M and J visas in Delhi is 43 days, while in Hyderabad it is 14 days. Chennai has a 42-day wait time and Kolkata has a 10-day wait time.

For more such updates, follow Leverage Edu News Updates.