• A shift again to pre-Covid visa renewal guidelines within the US could result in longer ready instances for Indian candidates.
• The journey business means that these modifications, coupled with restricted direct flights, are hindering the potential development of India-US journey.

The U.S. has reverted to its pre-Covid visa renewal coverage, probably resulting in prolonged wait instances for a lot of Indian candidates. This coverage change solely permits vacationers to resume their visas with out an embassy or consulate interview if their earlier same-class visa is legitimate or expired throughout the final 12 months.

In November 2022, when wait instances for the B1/B2 enterprise and tourism visa interview had prolonged to virtually three years in India, the U.S. expanded the eligibility for same-class drop field visa renewal—which doesn’t require an interview—from 12 to 48 months. This adjustment considerably lowered the wait time for B1/B2 interviews. Nevertheless, the current reversion to the 12-month eligibility for renewal may imply extra individuals in search of appointments for same-class visa renewal, probably extending the queue additional.

The journey business has expressed concern over this transformation, noting it could add difficulties for these counting on renewal. Anil Kalsi, Vice President of the Journey Brokers Federation of India, famous that many individuals have been caught unprepared by the sudden coverage shift.

The rise in visa renewal wait instances and restricted direct flights resulting from U.S. airways not utilizing Russian airspace are thought to constrain the potential development in India-U.S. journey. Regardless of this, a file variety of Indians traveled to the U.S. final yr, surpassing the 2019 pre-Covid excessive, making India the second largest abroad supply of worldwide guests to the U.S., following the UK.

Uncover extra at The Times of India.