A US government official met a group of travel agents on Tuesday to try and allay concerns over applicants facing a long wait for US visas.
Consular chief Anne M. Vasquez said her government was aware of the long waiting time and was looking into the matter. But she could not provide a possible timeline by which the problem would be sorted.
“We know that the wait time, particularly for B1 and B2 first-time applicants, is quite long. But there are plans in the works for ways that we can make that better so that we can get as many people travelling as we can,” she said at the meet.
An official of the consulate said B1 and B2 refer to an individual on a visitor visa.
“The waiting period for the visas is very long. Everybody wants to know about this,” said an agent.
Vasquez replied: “So do we. Our work never ends. We have a new boss in New Delhi, who is making some plans to reduce the waiting time. But I don’t have any immediate news to say when it is going to reduce. We are doing what we can to make changes so that we can be more efficient and have more appointments.”
On August 25, The Telegraph had reported that many Kolkatans have been facing a long wait for US visas, both tourist and business.
On Tuesday, the waiting time for B1 and B2 tourist visas was around 420 days, said travel agents in Kolkata.
At the meet, organised by the Travel Agents Federation of India, another agent asked Vasquez about the drop box.
“In the drop box system, we are facing problems. It asks whether you have an existing valid visa or not. If we say ‘no’, that page is not moving any further. We cannot pay the fees. If we say ‘yes’, then we can proceed. But the visa of the applicant has already expired. We have raised a ticket as well but have not received a response so far,” the agent said.
The drop box allows one to apply within four years of expiry of his or her visa. The application process had become smoother after the introduction of the drop box, but problems are cropping up of late, travel agents said.
The drop box system allows applications from Kolkata to be honoured in any part of India. If the appointment is available in another city at an earlier date, the applicant can opt for that.
“We are taking notes and we are going to look into it,” said Vasquez.
She also addressed concerns that a new system, in place since July, complicated the application process.
“Our process has not changed. About a month ago, we updated the software system to make it more modern. But the process for applicants is still the same. That is, basically, if somebody would like to travel to the US for any visa category, they would go online, fill up an application, pay the fee and schedule their appointments. That hasn’t changed at all. We just have a better software system to handle that.
“Now, some people would argue that it is not better. Because of a number of issues in the roll-out. We are aware of many of those issues. We are working on troubleshooting and making improvements as best as we can. But of course it is a government system. So, it takes some time,” she said.
“In a few weeks, President Biden will be here in India and I understand that he is also going to have something to say about visas and Indian travellers, how welcome they are in the US. It is a very important relationship that we have with India. We, as visa officers, want to do whatever we can to enable people to travel to the US,” said Vasquez.
Anil Punjabi, chairman, east, Travel Agents Federation of India, said it was important to place the concerns in front of the embassy.
“These are government procedures. There cannot be a different rule for Kolkata or Bengal. We understand that. But it was very important to make our concerns heard. We thank the officer for listening to us. We hope that the wait time will be reduced in the coming days,” he said.