The average wait for a visa appointment in the US consulate at New Delhi is 522 days for visitor visas and 471 days for student visas.
US Visa application: Planning on travelling to the United States of America? Well, the US embassy has revealed that due to a backlog of applications, Indians will have to wait until 2024 to successfully book a visitor visa appointment. The US State Department website shows the average waiting of about one-and-a-half years, which means those planning to apply now can get an appointment for March-April 2024. The average wait for a visa appointment in the US consulate at New Delhi is 522 days for visitor visas and 471 days for student visas. In Mumbai too, the average wait time for a US visa appointment is 517 days for a visitor visa and 10 days for a student visa.
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According to Travel Agents Federation of India joint secretary Anil Kalsi, “The longest appointment wait time is for a US visitor visa. However, once a passport is submitted there, the same is returned within 10 days. Those granted visas are given 10-year multiple entry at no extra cost. This is a big plus with the US.”
He further added that majority of the European embassies are not even giving appointments for visas. “Sweden is among the rare countries giving appointments. Similarly, one may get an appointment for September-end for Switzerland. VFS has a visa-at-home service for Austrian visas (for an extra charge).” he was quoted as saying by timesofindia.com.
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Average waiting time for US visa appointments
- Average waiting time for US visitor visa appointment is 18 month. 581 waiting days for Delhi and 517 waiting period for Mumbai.
- Chennai the waiting time for visitor visa is 557 day. Hyderabad is 518 days.
- Visa processing takes longer for Schengen states, Canada and the UK too
- US embassy says it’s trying to prioritise certain visa types and boosting consular staffing.
Applicants waiting for US visa interview has topped 4 lakhs
According to Moneycontrol, the number of applicants waiting for a US visa interview slot has now topped 4 lakhs. The story is no different for places like Canada that is seeing a backlog of over 20 lakhs. Schengen visa too is seeing delays with huge visa waiting time for travel to UK. ‘There are no appointment slots for visa appointments for countries including France and Iceland,’ reports Moneycontrol.
The reason behind the delay?
Post-Omicron, there is a surge in travel demand — and visa applications — in India. Foreign missions that had sent staffers back home during Covid-19 are yet to ramp up manpower, leading to humungous delays in visa processing.
A US embassy spokesperson told The Times of India that all attempts are being made to cut the waiting period through steps such as increasing consular staffing and prioritising certain visa types. “The US Department of State is committed to facilitating legitimate travel to the US… (It) is reducing appointment wait times in all visa classes as quickly as possible, worldwide. Visa processing is rebounding after a near-complete shutdown and freezing of resources during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
Other embassies too acknowledged the long wait time, but said the spike in applications is proportional to the number of visas granted post the pandemic. “In spite of the pandemic, the Canadian government welcomed over 4 lakh new permanent residents in 2021 of which 32% were Indians,” a Canadian high commission spokesperson was quoted as saying.
While countries are coping with the post pandemic surge in travel, people are opting for alternative travel plans, but those depending on their visa to select countries like students remain the worst affected.
