Indian visa backlog to be cleared in a few months; US cites COVID for delay!

On Tuesday, the US claimed that COVID-19 is to blame for the backlog of VISA applications and promised that it will be resolved within the upcoming few months. The US administration of Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that it has a strategy to process the backlog of visa requests for Indian citizens, and that plan will take shape in the coming months.

‘COVID placed restrictions on the number of personnel we could have in our embassies at one time, among other things. We have a plan when it comes to India to address the backlog of visas that have built up I think you’ll see that play out in the coming months,’ Blinken said in a press briefing.

Following the Indian minister’s worries and difficulty with obtaining visas for Indians to live and work in the US, the US made its comments. In his introductory remarks, Jaishankar stated that there had recently been some difficulties. ‘I noted it to Secretary Blinken and his staff, and I have every faith that they will look at some of these concerns seriously and constructively,’ he added. The US State Department reports that the wait time for visiting visas is 800 days while it is more than 400 days for student and exchange visas. The same applies to non-immigrant visas.

India-US ties as the most important ;
In response to the lengthy wait times for various visas, Blinken pleaded with his Indian colleague to be patient and promised that all pending applications would be quickly processed. ‘I’m quite sensitive to this. Throughout COVID, we experienced a sharp decline in our capacity to provide visas. Making that harder is the last thing we want to do. On the contrary, we aim to make things easier. Please be patient with us. Although we’re highly focused on it, this will unfold over the coming months’, Blinken added. Additionally, at the joint news conference, the American minister emphasised that the relationship between New Delhi and Washington is one of the most important in the world.