The Embassy of the United States in India will process about 8 lakh visas over the next 12 months, a senior diplomat stated in Chennai, on 19 April 2022.
In an interaction with reporters, Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the US embassy, Donald L Heflin stated that “8,00,000 visas are projected to be issued in the next 12 months. We opened a lot of slots for processing the visas. We think of eventually meeting the demand for H and L visas.”
H1B Visas are for those candidates who are planning to work as a professional for a US-based company or organization, whereas L1 Visas are for candidates who already work for a foreign branch of a US-based company, or are planning to open operations in the US of a foreign-based company.
He said 1.2 million visas were issued when asked about the total number of visas issued before the outbreak of Covid-19.
He also expressed hope that the visa processing would reach pre-Covid-19 levels sometime in 2023 or 2024.
“Pre-Covid-19 1.2 million visas were issued. We hope to reach that level sometime in 2023-24,” Heflin told PTI.
The consular offices were also ramping up staffing across India and the visa processing would be supported by the rise in headcount at these offices.
“Visa processing was done by 50 percent of the staff (due to Covid-19), we will be adding more employees to our offices,” he added.
The US Embassy in India is situated in New Delhi and Consulates General in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
“We are opening a new big building in Hyderabad. We are adding more staff in New Delhi, and Mumbai. Already there is 100 percent staff in Kolkata,” he noted.
While clarifying on the consulate setting up a dedicated helpline to address queries raised by visa applicants, the Minister Counselor said all the consulates already have a dedicated phone number as well as an e-mail address which visa applicants can use to contact for any assistance regarding their appointments.
He stated that “not that high number of visas were put on hold, but keep an eye as we are going to make more announcements on student visas in the coming weeks”, on the question, if Indian visas were ‘put on hold’ due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
