US to speed up visa issuance in India, says envoy Eric Garcetti

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 20

The US will increase its staff strength and open two more consulates shortly to reduce the waiting time for visa issuance, assured US Ambassador Eric Garcetti on Monday.

“I had a look at the new premises for establishing a consulate in Ahmedabad yesterday. Some more people have already joined the Hyderabad consulate as we are increasing the staff strength in the city and premises are being taken up in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad for setting up new consulates,” he said during an interaction at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) here.

A consulate was recently opened in Hyderabad and premises are being looked at in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad for new consulates while the number of US visas being issued in India has risen in recent weeks. The aim is to issue 10-15 per cent more visas than usual in the current calendar year.

Acknowledging delays, the US envoy said this was due to the large number of applicants, and the problem was similar in other countries such as Brazil and Mexico.

The envoy also urged deeper conversations to get in front of artificial intelligence by developing a regulatory framework and warned that “if we don’t get in front of AI, the consequences, even if it is a small percentage of likelihood, of something catastrophic happening with our official intelligence could be sooner than we believe.”

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