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Accepting a long-standing demand of citizens and providing relief to visa applicants, the United States has announced that two new US Consulates will be opened in key Indian cities – Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, which are also important outbound tourism hubs in the country to streamline visa accessibility and ease off the application process.
In the backdrop of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s state visit to the US, the White House has confirmed the development and said it intends to open Consulates soon. Whereas, the Indian government has also decided to reciprocate the move by establishing a new Indian Mission in Seattle, which will facilitate help and support to those applying for Indian visa. The timeline for both the developments has not been revealed.
The move comes has a big relief to visa applicants, especially students and tech professionals, who form a big chunk of visitors from India. Bengaluru, often termed as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ has large movements between both the countries by tech professionals and engineers. The city has been demanding the need for a new US Consulate from some time. Reportedly, 70 per cent visitors to the US from South India are from Karnataka.
The other city, Ahmedabad has emerged as a big outbound tourism hub from the Western India, which also has large number of students travelling from the region to the US.
Apart from the US Embassy in India situated centrally in New Delhi, India currently has US Consulates four other cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad. India has five consulates in the US — New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, and Atlanta — apart from the embassy in Washington DC.
This year, more than 200,000 Indian students are studying at US academic institutions, representing more than 20 percent of international students currently in the United States. Last year, a record-breaking 125,000 Indians were issued student visas, which is more than were issued to any other nationality. One out of every five student visas were issued in India last year.
According to White House officials, Indian students are set to become the largest foreign student community in the United States with a 20 per cent increase last year alone. The nation issued a record 125,000 visas to Indian students last year. The US Administration is also announced changes to the visa for skilled Indian workers as it is set to introduce in-country renewable H-1B visas, a significant decision that would help thousands of Indian professionals staying in the country to continue with their jobs without the hassle of travelling overseas for the renewal of their work visas.
Yesterday, The US Embassy in India announced that the average wait time for a US visa appointment in India has been reduced by 60 per cent since the start of the year and the Administration is using technology to tackle pent-up demand and other challenges.
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