US Mission opens additional 2.5 lakh visa appointments for Indian travellers

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The United States (US) Mission to India opened an additional 2.5 lakh visa appointments for Indian travellers, including tourists, skilled workers, and students, news agency ANI reported.

The recently released new slots will help hundreds of thousands of Indian applicants take timely interviews, facilitating travel, which is the backbone of the people-to-people ties that underpin the US-India relationship, the country's embassy in New Delhi announced in an official statement on Monday.

Sharing a post on X, US embassy in India wrote, "The US Mission to India has opened an additional 250,000 visa appointments for Indian travelers, including tourists, skilled workers, and students."

The US Mission to India has already surpassed one million non-immigrant visa applications for the second consecutive year, according to the statement.

"During our student visa season this summer, we continued to process record numbers, and all first-time student applicants were able to obtain an appointment at one of our five consular sections around India. We are now focused on bringing families together, connecting businesses, and facilitating tourism," the embassy stated.

"More than 1.2 million Indians have traveled to the United States year to date in 2024, a 35 per cent increase over the same period in 2023," the statment added.

At least six million Indians already have a non-immigrant visa to visit the US, and each day, the mission issues thousands more.

As US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti recently noted, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden set an ambitious goal to improve and expedite the visa process and I'm proud to say that we have delivered on that promise. Our consular teams at the embassy and four consulates work tirelessly to ensure that we meet the surging demand."