The United States consular missions in New Delhi and Mumbai have processed more than 2,500 visa applications under the “Super Saturday” event, which was held on March 9, 2024.
On the same day, the US Embassy in New Delhi interviewed more than 1,000 visitor visa applicants, VisaGuide.World reports.
Meanwhile, the US Consulate in Mumbai handled over 1,500 visa applicants. These included elderly parents looking to visit their children in America, students aspiring to study abroad, temporary workers, visitors, and business people, according to the Times of India (TOI).
Ambassador Eric Garcetti, who participated in the “Super Saturday” event held in New Delhi, supported the embassy staff with the increased workload and assisted in the fingerprint verification process too.
Ambassador Garcetti said that the core of the US-India partnership is the relationship that people build when they work, travel and study in the United States.
We are doing everything we can to facilitate the visa process and support critical people-to-people connections. The US Mission in India has increased staffing and harnessed technological innovations to meet the unprecedented demand and process more visas than ever before.
Meanwhile, the Visa Chief at the US Consulate in Mumbai, Katherine Estes, said that a significant demand for visas from Indian nationals had led to a waiting period of up to 1,000 days.
However, the backlog reduced considerably after we increased our manpower and resources.
She further encouraged applicants to apply themselves instead of reaching agents who promise to secure visa appointments for them.
After all, they too, keep scouring our website to book openings. So it is better that applicants keep checking our system and book themselves.
The “Super Saturday” has been held since 2022, and this was the first event for 2024. Meanwhile, the US Embassy in New Delhi revealed there will be three more such events this year.
US Processed 1.4 Million Visas to Indians Last Year
The US Embassy and consulates in India processed a record 1.4 million US visas last year. According to the US Embassy in India, demand across all visa types was unprecedented, with 60 percent more applications than in 2022.
Indians now represent one out of every ten US visa applicants around the world.
Overall, 230 US Embassies and Consulates worldwide issued a record number of 10.4 million visas last year.