Extended Interview Waiver Facility By US
Extended Interview Waiver Facility By US. With the United States looking at expanding the purview of interview waiver for Indian citizens seeking US visa. The ambit of the “dropbox” facility. which is used to renew a US visa without an in-person interview. It will now be expanded in several visa categories. Including student visas, business and tourist visas, and skilled workers visas. According to a senior official from the US embassy in India.
The official said that in case a person has already obtained a visa in a certain category. She/he now becomes eligible for interview waiver, and can use the dropbox facility.
This move subject to fulfillment of certain conditions. It will significantly bring down waiting time for US visas in days to come. The official told the media on Thursday.
While conceding that sit tight time for candidates has been lengthy in the post-Covid period. It was due generally to the immense build-up of utilizations and staffing issues. The authority said advances are in progress to resolve those issues. “By the late spring of 2023, the US international safe haven expects visa handling to be once again at pre-pandemic degrees of around 1.2 million every year.
Expounding on the dropbox offices. The consulate official said that the in-person interview waiver will incorporate even individuals. Whose B1 and B2 (vacationer and business) visas have lapsed over the most recent four years.
Might be called for biometrics
Candidates of understudy visas, who have in the past gone to the US on vacationer visas. They can likewise look for a meeting waiver. In spite of the fact that they might be called for biometrics. in the event that that wasn’t done before, the authority said.
Other than extending the dropbox office. Among different advances set aside some margin for Indians are adding consular staff. And sending dropbox cases for handling somewhere else. As indicated by the consulate official, stand by time has previously diminished from 450 days [15 months] to around nine months.
Before the pandemic, the average wait time, depending on the category of visa, varied between a few weeks (for most visas) to a few months in cases of B1/B2 visas in peak season.
India positions third — after Mexico and China
As of now, India positions third — after Mexico and China — as far as the all out number of visas gave by the US, and it is guessed that the nation will require the subsequent spot by the following summer, the US consulate official said. India is “main concern” for Washington in such manner, he added.
By and large, roughly 700 cases are being taken care of each and every day as of now, and in excess of 82,000 visas were granted to Indian residents over the most recent one year, as per this authority.
As a matter of fact, authorities said, India is among a modest bunch of nations where applications for US visas expanded essentially after pandemic-related travel limitations were removed. These included business voyagers, understudies, gifted laborers and travelers.
Another little yet critical class where the US is attempting to speed up the cycle is for team visas, utilized via aircraft and voyage staff, the authority said. “We are hoping to see greater improvement throughout the following nine months,” he said.
Facilitating visa rules by extending the ambit of dropbox or interview waivers across classifications is supposed to get rid of pointless problem for both the US consular staff as well as the candidates. Tending to the new worry of Indian residents over defers in getting US visas, Washington has clarified that it agrees highest need to New Delhi.
