New Delhi: The US recorded a spike in number of visas issued to Indian citizens in 2023. According to the US Embassy in India, a record 1.4 million visas were issued to Indian citizens in 2023, breaking the previous record of 1.2 million visas issued in 2022.
The US Embassy also said that Indians now account for one of the top ten US visa applicants around the world. The country said that 7,000,000 visitor visas (B1/B2) were issued to Indian citizens in 2023, the second-largest number of applications in the US Mission’s history.
The Embassy in India further said that 75 percent of the visitor visa appointment wait times were reduced in 2023. The embassy attributed the reduction in wait time to the efforts made by the US government to invest in staffing and improve the visa processing procedure. According to the US Embassy, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Chennai are the top four student visa processing posts in the US. These cities also top the list of top student visa processing cities in the world. The US said that more than a quarter of the over one million foreign students studying in the United States are Indian students.
The US Embassy will launch a pilot program this year which will allow eligible H1B visa holders to renew their visas in the United States. This will further streamline the visa application process for H1B visa holders.