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- Published: August 28, 2023 18:30
New Delhi: “Mission to 1 million”, is how the United States (US) Embassy describes its ongoing visa processing drive in the country. The US Embassy, along with its consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata & Hyderabad have augmented documentation & clearance of visa requests of prospective Indians moving to States for various purposes, from higher studies to work to tourism.
Sharing an important update about US immigration, the Embassy informed that it was soon to achieve its target of 1 million visa processing, this year.
“90 visa applications have already been processed,” informed US Embassy on its Instagram handle.
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It may be noted that the US immigration officials had set a target of 1 million visa paper processing till 2023 end. With 4 months to go, the US Missions are set to achieve the target much ahead of schedule.
A month ago, the Embassy took a break of 2 days – July 13 & July 14 to migrate to a new platform for expending the process. VGF Global, the nodal body for US visa processing in the country, resumed its services on July 15. VFS Global is largest outsourcing & tech services specialists in the world and look after consular & passport & visa related work of their client government & diplomatic missions.
Why US keen on allowing more foreigners
The Covid-19 pandemic and following lockdown created a lull in US economy, like others. For past 1 year, the US authorities have revved up drive to ‘bring in’ more foreign nations to allow fresh spike in US economy.
US authorities have focused on Indians, in particular, owing to latter’s inclination for visiting America. US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti recently, wooing Delhi IIT-ians, said that the wait time for first-time tourist visa interviews in US was reduced by over 50%.
Immigrant & Non-Immigrant Visas
There are primarily 2 types of visas under which foreigners visit America – Immigrant & non-Immigrant visa.
For immigrant visa, one has to petition before US Citizenship & Immigrant Services (USCIS).
Non-immigrant visas are of various types and depends on purpose of visit. They are Business Visa, Tourist Visa, Work Visa, Student Visa, Exchange Visitor Visa, Religious worker visa, transit visa and more.