More than 1 million non-immigrant visa applications from India have been processed by the United States Embassy in New Delhi, accounting for a 20 per cent increase compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The embassy said that Indian citizens now represent more than ten percent of all visa applications worldwide, taking also into account 20 percent of all student visa applications as well as 65 per cent of all H and L category visa applicants, VisaGuide.World reports.

Welcoming the increase, the US embassy also unfolded plans to implement a pilot program that would permit domestic visa renewal for qualified H and L category employment visa applicants.

The US partnership with India has been considered by the US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, as one of the US’ most important relationships,” and in fact among the most important relationships in the world.”

“The ties between our people are stronger than ever, and we will continue our record-setting volume of visa work in the coming months to give as many Indian applicants as possible the opportunity to travel to the United States and experience the US-India friendship firsthand,” the Embassy said.

Delays in visa processing continue to remain among the most significant problems for Indians, in spite of the fact that an ongoing effort to accelerate this process is made.

According to a report from the Times of India, the wait period for B1/B2 visitor visa applicants in India is still nearly 1.5 years, even though a significant improvement from the about three-year wait last year is made. In addition, the embassy has introduced several measures aimed at minimizing the waiting period.

According to VisaGuide.World the employment green card backlog for the US EB-2 as well as EB3 categories for 1,070,000 Indians will require a total of 134 years to process, meaning that about 134,000 children will age out before a green card can be held.

The US embassy said that taking into account high demand for US visas, the US continues to invest heavily in the operations in India.

“In the past year, the mission has expanded its staffing to facilitate more visa processing than ever before. The Mission has made significant capital improvements to existing facilities, such as the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, and has inaugurated a new Consulate building in Hyderabad,” the embassy noted.

The embassy also introduced measures to increase efficiency, extending interview waiver eligibility to new categories of visas, using remote work, in order to permit staff around the world to contribute to Indian visa processing.