Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the US issued 1.25 lakh student visas to Indians, the highest number ever given to foreign students by a nation, according to Mike Hankey, the consul general at the US Consulate General in Mumbai, who was in Vadodara on Friday.
By the middle of 2023, the US Embassies plan to “permanently increase staff” in order to process visa applications more quickly, according to Hankey. The US Embassies worked hard to reduce the wait time for Indian visa applicants from 1,000 to 500 days after COVID19.
Speaking with the sources in Vadodara on Friday, Hankey said that since India was the “number one country” sending students to the US, the Embassy was making all efforts to ensure a minimum wait time for visa applicants for student, work, and medical visas.
Hankey said, “Post covid19, there was a huge backlog of visas, and last year, the wait time was about 1,000 days. When we realised the backlog of Indian visa applicants —who also form the biggest number — we recruited 24 additional visa processing officials in Mumbai temporarily and also began remote processing of visa applications from Washington, for the applications submitted in Mumbai. We have been able to bring down the wait time to 500 days but it continues to be longer than our desired wait time.”
The US is set to open a state-of-the-art and expanded 53-window embassy in Hyderabad, which will be the biggest consular section in Asia, Hankey said.
Hankey met with representatives of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation during his visit to the city. Under the direction of the US Treasury, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation had successfully listed a five-year Rs 100 crore municipal bond at the BSE on March 23, 2022, to be used for 14 projects under the AMRUT scheme. Hankey referred to the US’s partnership with Indian civic organisations as a step toward achieving “shared goals.”
Hankey said, “The US and India have common interests for development, in order to ensure that the region and world are prosperous, open, free but also bound by rules. When we partner in financial projects, we partner to shape that future and to boost our goal. Just this week, India and the US also elevated their strategic partnership with the launch of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology or iCET, as India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met (his US counterpart) Jake Sullivan, where they discussed semi-conductors, Artificial intelligence, and quantum computing to create a bridge to boost innovation.”
Hankey stated, “It is the BBC that would know what the documentary contains… With regard to the US position on a BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots, which has been at the centre of a controversy in India… However, the US prioritises religious and speech freedom in its relations with friends around the world.”
On Friday evening, Hankey visited the Lakshya Trust, an organisation that advocates for the rights of the LGBTQ community, before leaving Vadodara.