The US has implemented new measures, such as scheduling special interviews for first-time visa applicants and increasing consular staff, to reduce delays in visa processing in India. On January 21, the US embassy in Delhi and the consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad held “special Saturday interview days” as part of their multi-faceted approach to decrease the visa backlog.

“On January 21, the US mission in India launched the first in a series of special Saturday interview days, as part of a larger effort to reduce wait times for first-time visa applicants,” the US embassy stated on Sunday.

“The United States Embassy in New Delhi and Consulates in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad all opened consular operations on Saturday to accommodate applicants who require in-person visa interviews,” the embassy said.

The mission in India plans to open additional appointment slots on select Saturdays in the coming months to address the backlog in visa processing caused by COVID-19. The State Department has also begun remote processing of interview waiver cases for applicants with previous US visas. To increase visa processing capacity, dozens of temporary consular officers from Washington and other embassies will be sent to India between January and March 2023. The mission has released over 250,000 additional B1/B2 appointments (business and tourism visas, respectively) and the Consulate General in Mumbai has extended its weekday operating hours for additional appointments.

The US mission expects to be processing visas at pre-pandemic levels by this summer, as staffing reaches full capacity, according to a statement from the embassy. With travel restrictions lifted, the mission has made it a priority to facilitate legitimate travel and has adjudicated over 800,000 nonimmigrant visas in 2022, including record numbers of student and employment visas. The embassy also stated that interview wait times for all visa categories in India are at pre-pandemic levels or lower. The Consulate General in Mumbai, which currently adjudicates the most visa applications in India and is one of the largest visa operations in the world, is putting in extra hours to meet the needs of international travelers and reduce wait times, according to Mumbai Consular Chief John Ballard. He added that this is part of a mission-wide effort to find innovative solutions to facilitate travel to the United States.