The US Embassy and its consulate in India have scripted a new record by issuing more than one million non-immigrant visas for the second consecutive year.
The record number of non-immigrant visas underscores huge demand among Indians for traveling to the United States for purposes such as tourism, business, education, medical treatment and others. A non-immigrant visa allows entry into the United States for those purposes.
The US Embassy has committed to increasing the number of Indian visitors to the US post the Covid pandemic, and the numbers have remained phenomenal over the years. In the last four years, the number of visitors from India has increased by five times, and more than two million Indians have travelled to the United States in the first eleven months of 2024, a 26 per cent increase over the same period in 2023," the Embassy said in an official statement. Over five million Indians already have a non-immigrant visa to visit the United States and each day, the Mission issues thousands more.
"The US Department of State successfully completed a pilot program this year to renew H-1B visas in the United States. That means many specialty occupation workers from India can renew their visas without having to leave the United States.". This pilot program has streamlined the renewal process for thousands of applicants, and the Department of State is working to formally establish a US-based renewal program in 2025," it stated further. The US Missions have also issued tens of thousands of immigrant visas, facilitating legal family reunification and migration of skilled professionals. These immigrant visa holders have gone on to become permanent residents.
The US mission has also issued more than 24,000 passports and other consular services to American citizens living and traveling in India," it said in a press statement. The Embassy has also issued US student visas to more than 3 lakh Indian students, its largest ever.
"In 2024, India became the largest sender of international students for the first time since the 2008/2009 academic year with more than 331,000 students overall studying in the United States.
India is also the biggest source country for international graduate students coming to the US, which for the second consecutive year; the number of Indian graduates has increased 19% compared with before and is now almost at 2,00,000", said the US mission.
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