Indians now represent over 10 pc of US visa applicants; one million non-immigrant visas processed in 2023
student visa applicants and 65 per cent of all H&L-category (employment) visa applicants.
The number of visa applications processed in India are 20 per cent more than the numbers processed in pre-Covid 2019 and 2022 and Indians made over one in 10 applications worldwide, the embassy said.
US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti personally handed over the one millionth visa to a couple, who will be heading to the United States to attend their son's graduation at MIT.
Dr Ranju Singh, senior consultant, Lady Hardinge College was elated at receiving an email from the US Embassy about hers being the one millionth visa this year. Her husband Puneet Dargan, was granted the next visa. The couple will be travelling to the US in May 2024.
Greeting the couple as «Mr and Mrs One million», Ambassador Garcetti enquired about their travel plans to the US and made suggestions about what not to miss in the country as a tourist.
«I couldn't be happier today, happy for India, Indians and the United States. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and President (Joe) Biden had said let's do a better job in moving faster on the visas and so the Ministry of External Affairs here approved more bodies in places like Hyderabad...more people who can work on these visas, we changed our systems, we worked harder and smarter and we hit a million visa applications processed this year,» the ambassador said.
