Us Visitor Visa Delays Hit Indian Businesses And Families.

Amit, CEO of his family business in Delhi, has a subsidiary in New Jersey in US, which was set up 8 years back.

The manager of the US branch, an American citizen, now wants to retire.

Mishra needs to visit the US branch to hire another person for the job, and the handover of responsibilities has to be carried out in his presence.

However, Mishra's B1-B2 visitor visa expired in August 2021, and he is eligible for a visa interview waiver; however, he will have to submit the required documents for the renewal only in November 2022; there are no earlier options.

His business is being badly hit and he needs to travel on an urgent basis; but with the US embassy and consulates in India unable to give dates for visa interviews or dropbox appointments for the next couple of months, there’s nothing that he can do but wait.

Hundreds of Indians, including parents who want to visit their children studying at US universities, families who want to visit their kin, and executives who want to attend business meetings and conferences, have also been affected by the long delays in getting US visitors visas since the COVID-19 was signed.

"At the moment, the US consulates and embassy only provide dates to renew visitor visas. For those applying for a new B1-B2 visitor visa, there are no interview dates scheduled. Our clients, who need to travel for urgent business matters, are getting restless,” says Mumbai-based immigration attorney Vipul Joshi.

Even after the submission of documents, the processing of US visitor visas is, in some cases, takes over 2 weeks. Sometimes dates are released by the embassy and consulates on their website, but they get filled up within minutes which adds to the uncertainty, adds Joshi.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, the processing fees for the US visas increased.

Since last year, the US government has implemented interview waiver programs for several categories of visas until December 2023. However, despite the interview waivers, visa backlogs in India continue, and travel industry experts are still unsure of when the timeline for granting US visas will be back to the pre-pandemic level.