Nearly 1,25,000 student visas issued to Indians in 2022: US State Dept

Price acknowledged the delay, and assured, “It is a priority of the Secretary and of the Department to do everything we can to reduce that backlog and ultimately to reduce the wait times.”

In December 2022, the White House admitted there were long delays in visa appointments, and said the Joe Biden administration was working to respond to the “significant demand of these visa services.” People seeking appointments for non-immigrant visas, visitor visas (B1/B2), student visas (F1/F2), and temporary worker visas (H, L, O, P, Q) with embassies in countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, faced extraordinarily long backlogs last year.

In India, specifically, according to a report by news agency PTI, the delays caused hardships to the “Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) families inside the US and abroad, as well as major disruptions for students, businesses, and visitors.”

Price reiterated, “We are committed to safeguarding national security while facilitating legitimate travel to non-immigrant travellers, and we know that timely visa processing is essential to the US economy and to the administration’s goal of family reunification.”

Price highlighted that the US was making efforts to respond to the increasing demand for visa services as Covid-induced restrictions ease around the world. In a bid to ensure timely visa processing in the post-pandemic era, the US has “doubled the hiring of US Foreign Service personnel,” he said.

Early last month, a presidential commission had recommended US President Joe Biden “consider issuing a memo to the State Department to reduce the visa appointment wait times to a maximum of two to four weeks for countries like India with significant backlogs.”

It also suggested that the State Department should “allow for virtual interviews where applicable” and “hire new full-time officers, temporary staff, contractors, or bring back retired consular officers to clear the backlog at relevant embassies in Asia which have wait times of over a month.”

“We are successfully lowering visa wait times worldwide… Visa processing is recovering faster than projected, and over the coming year, we expect to reach pre-pandemic processing levels,” Price added on Wednesday.

Recognising that applicants might still face extended waiting periods for their visas, he said the US was “making every effort to further reduce visa interview appointment wait times as quickly as possible in India and around the world, including for first-time tourist visa applicants.”