India is a crucial partner for the USA when it comes to the people-to-people relationship in bilateral ties. Recently, prominent lawmakers in the United States have requested the country’s Biden administration to work on the long visa wait time for Indian applicants on a priority basis. The wait time for visas is simply severe where applicants had to wait for about 600 days, more than one and a half years.
Are Any Steps Taken To Reduce The Visa Wait Time For Indian Visa Applicants?
Questions have been raised against state department officials about such a long and strenuous process for people in India. Issues on similar agendas were discussed in some Congressional hearings. According to a report by LiveMint, Senator Bob Menendez (Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) and Congressman Michael Waltz (Co-Chair of the House India Caucus) asked questions regarding the long visa wait time. Officials have been asked about the steps to overcome this major problem for Indian applicants.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the United States in June. Before his arrival in the country, Congressman Michael Waltz asked about the process of solving this delay problem at a hearing by the House Foreign Relations Committee. Also, he stated how this long visa wait time can turn out to be affecting the business relationship.
There Have Been Some Advancements But Still The Duration is Too Long!
Senator Bob Menendez talked about how some actions of the department have helped in decreasing the visa wait time to a margin for first-time B1-B2 visa applicants. Though there were some proper changes last year, the visa wait time is still very extended for people of India, as reported by Business Today. The waiting period is about 450 to 600 days for first-time B1-B2 applicants. Senator also shared about the people-to-people relationship in bilateral ties with India and the United States.
Many questions are coming up about this delay. It is only a matter of time to see how the department takes action.
Have you ever had any such experience where you had to wait for a really long time for your visa? If yes, how many days did it take you?
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