Blinken pledges action to address Indian concerns on US visas

New Delhi: India has flagged to the US the serious problems being faced by Indian citizens, especially professionals and tourists, in obtaining American visas, with applicants facing long wait times and some being provided interview dates in 2024.

The matter figured at a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Tuesday, with India raising the issue of visa delays and hurdles in human mobility and the US promising action within months.

The US focused on visas for Indian students over the past few weeks, especially in view of the start of courses at US educational institutions from September onwards, and the problem now is mainly with the H, L and B categories of visas, including the coveted H-1B2 visas, people familiar with the matter said. The Indian side has also taken up serious issues with visa applications for the UK, Canada and European countries such as Germany that are popular with Indian students and tourists, the people said. The External Affairs Ministry has received numerous submissions, mainly from students and business travellers, about the visa delays.

The US is now looking at various measures to cut down delays, including the deployment of more officers and possible waiver of interviews for Indians previously issued US visas, the US embassy spokesperson said.

Following the meeting with Blinken, Jaishankar told a joint news conference the issue of visas is crucial because of its centrality to education, technology, business and family reunions. "There have been some challenges of late and I flagged it to secretary Blinken and his team and I have every confidence that they will look at some of these problems seriously and positively."

Blinken responded by saying he is "extremely sensitive" to the issue, and this is a challenge being faced by the US around the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Our ability to issue visas dropped dramatically during Covid and...this is the one self-financing part of the of the state department," he said.