At over 14 lakhs, Indians were the third largest overseas visitors in the US in 2022, reported ToI. In 2017 and 2018, over 10 lakh non-immigrant visas were issued to Indians
The United States recently announced its target to process over 10 lakh nonimmigrant visa applications in India in 2023. The US Department of Commerce also issued the latest data which shows Indians were the third-largest overseas visitors in the US, last year. At over 14 lakhs, Indians were the third largest overseas visitors in the US in 2022, reported ToI. In 2017 and 2018, over 10 lakh non-immigrant visas were issued to Indians.
US authorities have taken several steps to cut down the waiting period for interviews. The interview waiting period for visitor visas has gone down from three years last November to two years, which is still a long wait. The number of interviews had almost touched the 1,000 a day mark last year for visitor visa, B1 (business) and B2 (tourist), interview cases.
The total international visitor in 2022 to the US was almost 5.1 crore — up 128% from 2021, but still 64% of the total international visitor arrivals in 2019. While the top two source markets remain Canada (1.4 crore) and Mexico (1.2 crore) that share a land border with the US, the top overseas markets were UK (34.2 lakh) followed by Germany (15 lakh) and then India (14.5 lakh). “New York reported the largest volume of visitor arrivals as a port of entry for 2022 (followed by) Miami and Los Angeles,” the department said in a statement
A US Embassy spokesperson in a ToI report said, “The US Mission to India has already processed more than two lakh visa applications at our embassy and consulates in India (so far this calendar year) and we’re on track to hit our goal of processing more than 10 lakh non-immigrant visa applications in 2023. Our goal to process one million visa applications includes non-immigrant visas of all categories.”
The (US) department of state processed around 90 lakh non-immigrant visa applications in 2022 across the world. Mission million “is an India-specific effort, to further strengthen the people-to-people ties between our two countries,” the spokesperson added.
The total international visitor in 2022 to the US was almost 5.1 crore — up 128% from 2021, but still 64% of the total international visitor arrivals in 2019. While the top two source markets remain Canada (1.4 crore) and Mexico (1.2 crore) that share a land border with the US, the top overseas markets were UK (34.2 lakh) followed by Germany (15 lakh) and then India (14.5 lakh). “New York reported the largest volume of visitor arrivals as a port of entry for 2022 (followed by) Miami and Los Angeles,” the department said in a statement.
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