Now Reading: India visa applicants wait 346 days on average for US interview
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India visa applicants wait 346 days on average for US interview
Applicants in India waited an average of 346 days for a US visitor visa interview in fiscal 2025, a federal audit found. The Government Accountability Office said demand outpaced consular staffing, with…
Applicants in India waited an average of 346 days for a US visitor visa interview in fiscal 2025, a federal audit found. The Government Accountability Office said demand outpaced consular staffing, with 68 officers handling an estimated 1.46 million nonimmigrant visa applications in India.
The average wait in China was 34 days and 32 days in Brazil. Mexico, with a similar application load per officer, recorded a 283-day wait. State Department officials cited high demand, too few officers since the pandemic, and a shortage of interview windows in New Delhi as key causes. Auditors saw hundreds of applicants queuing outside the US embassy.
A Washington-based unit handled 80.6 per cent of New Delhi’s interview-waiver cases in fiscal 2024. Staff also worked extra Saturdays. A planned move to a new embassy building would keep the number of interview windows unchanged, the report said.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The 346-day average wait is for a first-time B1/B2 visitor visa interview, not for renewals or other categories that often qualify for interview waivers. The State Department processed 80 percent of eligible New Delhi cases remotely in 2024, yet the backlog persists because the waiver does not cover first-time applicants, who form the bulk of demand. India sends more students and skilled workers to the US than any other country, so the bottleneck affects higher-education admissions and tech project timelines as much as tourism. The real test is whether the State Department can sustain the remote processing model and expand the New Delhi embassy footprint, because the current building has no room for more interview windows. Congress controls visa fee revenue and consular staffing budgets, the next annual appropriation cycle, starting October 2025, will show whether lawmakers treat the India backlog as a priority.
Source: greatandhra.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
