Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Jun 12, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Jun 12, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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International Travel Relief for US visa seekers Our Bureau
NEW DELHI, June 11 TO clear the backlog of visa applications from Chennai, the United States Embassy has announced that genuine applicants could approach New Delhi or Kolkata offices for speedy disposal of their cases. "The backlog of visa applications has risen sharply in Chennai. While it takes one week to get an appointment for personal appearance in the capital for a visa, there are no dates available in Chennai till the end of August. To ensure that urgent or genuine visa applicants are not denied an opportunity, we would entertain their requests in Kolkata or New Delhi," a senior US Embassy official told reporters here on Wednesday. The official said there had been no change in the criteria or rate of issuing visas by the US. The Embassy was, however, scrutinising individual applications more closely after the terrorist strikes in the US, leading to the entire process getting slowed down. He added that the Embassy would increase its staff to ensure that there was no backlog in processing visa applications. As a precaution, the US Embassy would not entertain requests for waiver of the personal appearance requirement before issuing a visa. "Our primary concern is to ensure the security of our borders. Waiver from personal appearance would not be allowed except for senior citizens, infants and persons seeking to renew their visa in the same category," he said. The official said that the US Embassy had issued nearly 2.75 lakh visas last year (October 2001-September 2002) and the figure was likely to cross three lakh this year. India accounted for nearly half of all the H1-B visas issued to professionals by the US and was the second largest source for legal immigration to the country behind Mexico, he said, adding that there was no discrimination against Indians visiting the US.
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