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The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently made some changes to the VISA application system to encourage more Indian pupils to apply for a Student Visa. Because of these changes, Minister-Counselor for Consular Affairs at US Embassy in Delhi, Donald L. Heflin, hopes that number of student Visa applications will be more than the overall 62,000 issues last year.
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Last year US Universities announced that students in India can return to attend their classes physically. Accordingly, US Embassy and Consulates in India have offered thousands of interview slots so that candidates can apply for programs at different universities in India.
Issues faced by Indians while applying for US Student Visa
Indian Students were recommended to visit the official website of the US Embassy in India to apply for their Visas. But due to several issues, most candidates were unable to proceed with their applications.
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The US Embassy site responsible for the issuance of student visas crashed due to a huge number of applications submitted by Indian Students. According to Heflin, the main reason for this was that many of the slots were being occupied by candidates who have already been rejected for Visa more than once. Because of this, many first-time applicants were unable to get a spot.
Measures taken to solve Visa Application Issues
To counter this issue, US Embassy System changed the software and upgraded the Visa application system. The system will be able to filter out the candidates who have been rejected before. They will also be prevented from reapplying the same year.
The new Visa Application system will also increase the number of interview slots for first-time applicants - students who have met all the requirements for their program, academic and otherwise. Suitable measures will also be taken to prevent agents from booking the interview slots so that there are adequate spots for genuine students.
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Indian students currently pursuing higher studies in US can also take advantage of the Visa Interview waiver scheme. Under this scheme, individuals who were previously issued a permit can avail interview waiver if they are citizens of eligible countries.
Hence Indian students can make use of the Visa Waiver dropbox scheme to travel to India to visit their parents or vice versa. Heflin commented that Parents with an expired B-1 or B-2 Visa can also schedule a dropbox interview and renew their Visas.
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