Shedding light on visa appointments and their associated wait times, Eric Garcetti, the US envoy to India, revealed that President Joe Biden specifically instructed him to reduce waiting times for visas in India. This directive marks the first instance of an ambassador being tasked with such a responsibility in any country.
Garcetti emphasized that part of the green card backlog issue stems from legislative challenges, indicating that Congress will need to address this aspect.
However, he pointed out that the number of visas adjudicated has led to a significant reduction in waiting times by 75 percent.
While speaking to ANI, Mr Garcetti said, “Now, part of this is a legislative problem that Congress will have to address on the whether it’s the number of legal immigrants, the number of green cards, or the number of people who can become citizens. There’s just limits on that. Like any country, I’m sure there’s limits here, too. And that is frustrating for Indians, I think, because there’s so many Indians who want to come to America. And that’s a great part of our news, by the way. Second only to Mexicans, where Indian visas last year, the biggest number of students double the second biggest.”
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“Last year, over 245,000 student visas came from India. Number one in adoptions, number one in all these categories that show 1.4 billion people, a lot of them would love to come to America. And so it’s a good problem to have. But a couple of things were changing…,”he responded. When questioned about the green card backlog problem and the predominance of Indians among those affected.
The US Embassy in India disclosed in a November release that, for the third consecutive year, a record-breaking number of Indian students journeyed to the United States for higher education.
As per the findings of the Open Doors Report (ODR), the influx of international students from India to the United States surged by 35 percent, reaching an unprecedented peak of 268,923 students during the academic year 2022-23.
According to the embassy’s release, Indian students make up over 25 percent of the total population of foreign students, which exceeds one million, studying in the United States. The commencement of International Education Week (IEW) coincides with the publication of the Open Doors Report, an event that highlights the advantages of global education and exchange on a global scale.
Continuing his remarks, Mr. Garcetti disclosed discussions regarding the establishment of two new consulates: one in Bangalore and the other in Ahmedabad.
He said, “We’ve talked about opening two new consulates in the near future, one in Bangalore, another one that will be in Ahmedabad. Two, we’re working with the Ministry of External Affairs to put more bodies in India, and they’ve been very responsive and helpful. For instance, we opened up in Hyderabad, the newest, most expensive, and most beautiful consulate anywhere in the world for the US. But it was only the counters were only one third filled because we didn’t have enough people at approved by the Indian government to come work here. And then we have to, of course, hire them.
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