Issued 1.25 lakh student visas to Indians in 2022, trying to make process faster: US Consul General

Speaking with The Indian Express in Vadodara on Friday, Hankey said that since India was the “number one country” sending students to the US, the Embassy was making all efforts to ensure a minimum wait time for visa applicants for student, work, and medical visas.

Hankey said, “Post covid19, there was a huge backlog of visas, and last year, the wait time was about 1,000 days.

When we realised the backlog of Indian visa applicants —who also form the biggest number — we recruited 24 additional visa processing officials in Mumbai temporarily and also began remote processing of visa applications from Washington, for the applications submitted in Mumbai. We have been able to bring down the wait time to 500 days but it continues to be longer than our desired wait time.”

The US is set to open a state-of-the-art and expanded 53-window embassy in Hyderabad, which will be the biggest consular section in Asia, Hankey said.

On his visit to Vadodara, Hankey also met with officials of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, which had successfully listed a five-year Rs 100 crore municipal bond at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on March 23, 2022, with the guidance of the US Treasury to be used for 14 projects under AMRUT scheme.

Hankey described the US collaboration with civic bodies in India as a step towards achieving “shared goals”.

Hankey said, “The US and India have common interests for development, in order to ensure that the region and world are prosperous, open, free but also bound by rules. When we partner in financial projects, we partner to shape that future and to boost our goal. Just this week, India and the US also elevated their strategic partnership with the launch of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology or iCET, as India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met (his US counterpart) Jake Sullivan, where they discussed semi-conductors, Artificial intelligence, and quantum computing to create a bridge to boost innovation.”

Hankey added that the US was also looking to build “educational connections with India”, by encouraging US universities to come to India and partner with Indian education institutions.

“Our focus is on ensuring that there is an all-inclusive growth of communities, religious minorities, as well as the LGBTQ communities,” Hankey said.

Regarding the US stand on a BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots, which has been at the centre of a controversy in India, Hankey said, “It is the BBC that would know what the documentary contains… But, the US focus with our friends across the world is on the freedom of expression and freedom of religion.”

Before departing from Vadodara on Friday evening, Hankey also visited the Lakshya Trust, which works for the rights of the LGBTQ community.