U.S. visa backlog challenge ‘heard loud and clear’, says envoy Garcetti

US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti addresses visa backlogs, highlights reduction in wait times, and plans for US-India educational collaborations

Addressing the issues of visa backlogs, and recalling President Joe Biden's order to reduce the visa time for Indians, the Ambassador of the United States to India, Eric Garcetti has said that the challenge is heard "loud and clear" and added that he is proud of the work done in just one year to reduce the visa wait time by three quarters.

In an interview with ANI, Mr. Garcetti said, "I am very proud of the work we have done in just one year to reduce the visa wait time by three quarters and to have no visa wait time in any of the categories except for first-time tourist visa which is down 75%."

He highlighted how at the same time, the U.S. has "increased the number of visas with the same number of people by 60% in a single year, so we are hearing that challenge loud and clear".

"We are excited about the number of Indians who want to come for reasons from business to students to even immigrant visas people becoming citizens..." Mr. Garcetti said.

In March, Mr. Garcetti told ANI that President Joe Biden told him to bring down the visa times in India, adding that it was the first instance that an ambassador was told to look into something like this in any country.

Mr. Garcetti underscored that a part of the green card backlog issue is a legislative problem and said that it is what Congress will have to address. However, he highlighted that the number of visas that have been adjudicated has brought down the waiting time by 75%.

The envoy had said, "Now, part of this is a legislative problem that Congress will have to address on the whether it's the number of legal immigrants, the number of green cards, or the number of people who can become citizens. There's just limits on that. Like any country, I'm sure there's limits here, too. And that is frustrating for Indians, I think, because there's so many Indians who want to come to America. And that's a great part of our news, by the way. Second only to Mexicans, where Indian visas last year, the biggest number of students double the second biggest."