US Visa appointments: White House says govt aware of long delays in India, as wait time reaches 1000 days
As the wait time visa appointments in India nears one thousand days, the White House on eight December stated that the Biden Administration is aware about the lengthy delays and is running to reply to the “great call for of those visa services.” “I can say that the Biden management is aware about the issues,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed newshounds at her day by day information conference. She become responding to a query at the agonizing lengthy visa appointment length on the US missions in India, which presently runs into greater than 1,000 days. Currently, the wait time for Interview Required Visitors (B1/B2) is 999 days in step with Travel. State professional website.
“While we’ve made exceptional strides, as you know, due to the fact you cowl this very closely, in convalescing from the pandemic associated closures and staffing challenges, we’re nevertheless running to reply to the great call for of those visa services,” Jean-Pierre stated. “That is some thing that we can maintain to do. We are correctly decreasing visa interview wait instances, this is round the arena, and we have got doubled our hiring of US Foreign Service employees to do that critical work. Visa processing is convalescing quicker than projected, and this 12 months we anticipate to attain pre-pandemic processing levels,” she similarly added.
Early this week, a presidential fee endorsed President Joe Biden to bear in mind issuing a memo to the State Department to lessen the visa appointment wait instances to a most of to 4 weeks for international locations like India with great backlogs. Non-immigrant visa, vacationer visa (B1/B2), scholar visa (F1/F2), and transient employee visa (H, L, O, P, Q) appointments with embassies in precise Asian international locations and Pacific Islands, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, and different international locations, have notably lengthy backlogs.
In the case of India, it’s miles has neared 1,000 days ensuing in worry to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) households in the US and overseas, in addition to primary disruptions for students, businesses, and visitors. Speaking of different international locations, the wait time for Interview Required Visitors (B1/B2) in Beijing is two days while in Shanghai it’s miles 30 days. The visa appointment wait time in Karachi, Pakistan is 381 days. The wait time in Dhaka is 294 days.
During its assembly this week, the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, made a fixed of hints to the White House to lessen the developing postpone in visa appointment instances in US embassies globally specially in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and different international locations. Moved through eminent Indian American network chief Ajay Jain Bhaturia, the presidential fee endorsed that Biden have to bear in mind issuing a memo to the State Department to lessen the visa appointment wait instances to 2-four weeks most for international locations with great backlogs, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and different international locations in comparable situations.
It endorsed that the State Department have to take all essential steps for you to accelerate the visa processing in embassies overseas and decrease the visa appointment wait instances to 2-four weeks most for India and different impacted embassies. The State Department have to permit for digital interviews in which relevant and permit workforce from embassies round the arena and US consular workforce to assist behavior digital interviews to lessen excessive backlogs, it endorsed.
The Commission additionally endorsed that the State Department have to rent new full-time officials, transient workforce, contractors, or deliver again retired consular officials to clean the backlog at applicable embassies in Asia that have wait instances of over a month, prioritizing people with three hundred day wait instances, and decrease the wait time to -4 weeks through clearing the visa appointment backlog.
