“Do you have upcoming international travel? If so, you may be able to get a visa appointment at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your destination. For example, @USEmbassyBKK has opened B1/B2 appointment capacity for Indians who will be in Thailand in the coming months.”
US embassy, India, tweets.
With the appointment waiting period for a US visa still over 500 days in most of India, despite attempts to cut the backlog, the US embassy in India on February 8 said that Indians who were travelling abroad could get a visa appointment at the US embassy or Consulate of their destination. The US gave the example of Thailand which, it said, has appointment capacity for B1 and B2 visa (travel and business).
“Do you have upcoming international travel? If so, you may be able to get a visa appointment at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your destination. For example, @USEmbassyBKK has opened B1/B2 appointment capacity for Indians who will be in Thailand in the coming months,” US embassy, India, tweeted.
This is one of the new initiatives launched by US, including scheduling special interviews for first time applicants and increasing the strength of consular staff. As part of the multipronged approach to cut the visa backlog, the US embassy in Delhi and the consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad also conducted “special Saturday interview days” on January 21.
India was one of the very few countries where applications for US visas saw a major upswing after coronavirus-related travel restrictions were lifted
The US State Department has also implemented remote processing of interview waiver cases for applicants with previous US visas.
The US mission in India released more than 2,50,000 additional B1/B2 appointments two weeks ago. A senior US visa officer recently told news agency PTI that the US was “putting every ounce of its energy” to eliminate the long visa wait time in India, including sending a cadre of consular officers to the country and opening up its other overseas embassies as far away as Germany and Thailand for Indian visa applicants.
India was one of the very few countries where applications for US visas saw a major upswing after coronavirus-related travel restrictions were lifted.
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