The United States Embassy and Consulates in India are giving priority to processing student visa applications in an attempt to reduce long waiting times for this group of applicants, the US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, said.
During an interview at the American Center, Ambassador Garcetti noted that the US consular teman is committed to accelerating the visa processing for Indian students who want to enter the US for the purpose of pursuing their studies.
He further emphasized that the decision to accelerate student visa processing follows a direct order from the US President Joe Biden, VisaGuide.Wolrd reports.
According to the Economic Times, Ambassador Garcetti said that this is the first time that the president has asked directly for the visa processing times to be accelerated.
The same further stressed that this shows the country’s commitment to make it easier for Indian student to pursue their studies in the US.
Increased Number of Indian Students to Be Granted US Visas This Year
The number of Indian students who will be granted visas this year is expected to increase. At the same time, the US embassies are also expected to register a higher number of applications in 2024, exceeding 2023 and 2022 figures.
As data from the US Embassy and Consulates in India show, more than 140,000 Indians were granted student visas in 2023.
In 2023, the U.S. consular team in India issued over 140,000 student visas – more than in any other country in the world setting a record for the third year in a row. Taken individually, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Chennai now stand as the top four student visa processing posts in the world.
Due to the high number of visas granted to Indian students last year, the latter have become the largest group of international graduate students in the US.
Indians also make up over a quarter of a million foreign students who are pursuing their studies in the US.
In 2023, for the third consecutive year, a record number of students from India traveled to the US to pursue their studies.
Data from the Open Doors Report shows that the US registered a 35 percent increase in the number of Indian international students in the 2022/23 academic year compared to the 2021/22 academic year.
The same disclosed that the number of Indian graduate students increased by 63 percent to 165,936 in the 2022/23 academic year.