Students will get their US visas on time: Ambassador Elizabeth Jones

Hiring and training of Vice Consuls and Visa Adjudictors is on

Students applying for United States visas for the Spring semester will get their visas on time as the officials are working on this as a top priority so that students can get to classes on time, assured U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Ambassador A. Elizabeth Jones.

Speaking to a select group of reporters during her visit to Hyderabad on Tuesday, she said the US realised the need for expediting the issuance of visas and they were seriously working on it. The hiring and training of additional vice consuls and visa adjudicators was on and by this summer the staffing of visa consuls and visa adjudicators will be above the number before the Pandemic.

She said that the steps will substantially reduce the wait time for B1 and B2 visas as well and described the present wait time as huge and unacceptable. Hyderabad Consulate took the top spot in issuing student visas in the country and the figure across the country last year was around 1.25 lakh.

Describing the new facility coming up in Hyderabad as a ‘Consulate built for growth’, she said the impressive campus coming up was indicative of the optimism of the growth of the US relationship with this region. The facility has been designed keeping in mind the growth in the staffing capacity.

On the absence of a full-time Ambassador to India impacting the relations, she argued that it had not made much negative impact. In fact, policy directors of both governments ensured that that trade and even military cooperation took up an upswing. Though the US preferred to have a confirmed Ambassador Congress had to clear the decision and hopefully it would be done soon.

Refusing to accept that India’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war was not to the liking of the USA, she said in international relations one of the rules was not to tell other countries what to do but to find out ways to work together. India made its choice on aid to Ukraine and the Indian Prime Minister also made it clear that this was not the era of war and a political solution was preferred to war. She observed that every country made its choices based on its interests and values.

Ambassador Jones further said the US saw India as a partner of choice and mentioned the QUAD initiative where it was decided to use vaccines as a way of promoting relations. Countries could not be dictated on how to behave but common interests can be worked out and that was how US-India relations should be seen. On China-India border skirmishes, she said UIS believed in settling the issues through engagement. At the same time, the US stoutly maintained that the territorial integrity of India and its borders must be honoured and respected.