The US Embassy in India broke the record by issuing more than a million non-immigrant visas for the second consecutive year.
The US Embassy earlier pledged to issue more visas to Indian visitors to the US after the Covid and now kept its word by issuing a record number of visas.
‘In the past four years, the number of visitors from India has increased by five times, and more than two million Indians have traveled to the United States in the first eleven months of 2024, a 26 percent increase over the same period in 2023. The US Department of State completed a successful pilot program to renew H-1B visas in the United States this year. This allowed many specialty occupation workers from India to renew their visas without leaving the United States. This pilot program streamlined the renewal process for thousands of applicants, and the Department of State is working to formally establish a US-based renewal program in 2025,’ the Embassy’s official statement said.
Apart from the visas, the US Mission has also provided more than 24000 passports and other consular services to American citizens living and traveling in India. In the largest ever number, the US Embassy also issued US student visas to more than 3 lakh Indian students. India also remains the largest sender of International graduate students in the United States for the second year.