India raises concerns over US's delay in issuing visas, promises support to hasten process
India Today
India raised the issue of visa delays with the US administration during the bilateral meeting between External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar and U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
India raised the issue of visa delays with the US administration during the bilateral meeting between External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar and U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
On Wednesday, during an interaction with the media in Washington DC, Jaishankar said India would extend help if needed to tide over the massive backlog but in the same breath, he added that it was for the US to handle things on its own.
“I suggested US State Secretary Blinken if there was something we could do to help the US government deal with this issue in a better way...But, this is an issue where it's mainly for the US to do, all we can do is just lend our support," said the External Affairs Minister.
Jaishankar added, “In India, there are families unable to meet; students waiting for a long time... I am confident that with the sincerity US Secretary Blinken has shown, they will be able to address this. With any support that we can provide, we hope things will improve.”
According to the US State Department, the delay in issuance of visas is not just limited to India. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, US embassies and missions the world over have been facing difficulties with visa processing.
According to data available with the US State department, the delay in issuing 'visitor visa' for countries in the Indian subcontinent are 883 in Delhi, 767 in Kolkata, 545 in Dhaka (Bangladesh), 450 in Islamabad (Pakistan), 398 in Kathmandu (Nepal) and 100 in Colombo (Sri Lanka).
On Tuesday, after the bilateral talks and during the joint press interaction, Blinken explained the reasons for such delays. He said, “We are facing this difficulty across the world. Visas are a self-financing part of the state department, which means around the world, the fees that we get for issuing visas go into our budget and our capacity to put in place the people needed to process the visas.”
