"Top Priority": US Official On Cutting Wait Time For Visas For Indians

India is the No. 1 student visa recipient in the world and the numbers are only going to go up, US Consul General Mike Hankey told NDTV on Wednesday.

Asked about the delay in issuing the H1B visas, and if Indians can expect wait time to fall by December-January, he said, "Yes. The good news is that the H1B visa just opened up 1 lakh new appointment for the Indian applicants who are trying to go for work in the US. It's been our pleasure to see how many of those people come forward, bring their papers so that they can work in the US."

"Last year, 82,000 student visas were given. That set a few records - it was the most visas ever issued for students," he added.

On the issue of visitor visa wait time being over 100 days, Mr Hankey said, "We are bringing a lot of resources for visitors' visa; this is Washington's top priority to reduce it. Our priority within visitors' visa is students, medical emergency and also business visa. We always focus on humanitarian cases. People seeking to go to the US for medical treatment get priority.

To ramp up efforts, the US official said, staff strength has been increased.

"Extra resources have been brought in for this. Our staffing in Mumbai is above pre-pandemic levels. We have brought in surge capacity staff from Washington and also roped in other US embassies in the region with less visa demand," he said.

On the question of layoffs by IT companies and what happens to the H1B visa holders, especially Indians, he replied, "Those individuals will have to take a look at their status; see what they have to do. Either they have to talk to immigration lawyers or may be speak with immigration consultant".

Mr Hankey met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, leader of opposition Dr Govind Singh and Governor Mangubhai Patel.

He said he sees opportunities in clean energy, education, farm production and food processing, adding they are looking positively towards the forthcoming 'Global Investors' Summit', which will be held in Indore next January.