- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE United States has issued the most number of student visas — more than 55,000 — in India this year. And this has happened despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement issued on Monday (23), the US Embassy said that the mission in India “approved more student visa applications in 2021 than ever before, despite the global Covid-19 pandemic. Through these efforts, more than 55,000 students and exchange visitors are boarding planes to study in the US, and more students are being approved every day”.
The embassy added that with “the summer student rush” dissipating, the mission was set to focus on other visa categories.
Ambassador Atul Kehsyap, Chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in New Delhi, said studying in the US is a unique and often life-changing experience for Indian students as they get fresh, global perspectives and get invaluable career opportunities, Times of India daily reported. He added that Indian students also enrich the American society, achieve high levels of academic success and better the bonds of friendship between the two countries. “The many hard-working women and men of the US Mission to India are proud to facilitate their travel and study,” he added.
The embassy also said in the mission that while the consulates typically start interviewing fall semester students for a given year in May. However, the second wave of the pandemic forced the US mission to delay the commencement of its student visa season by a couple of months.
“In July, as soon as conditions allowed for the resumption of visa services without endangering applicants’ health and safety, consular teams worked not only to match, but surpass , their pre-Covid workload. The US Embassy and Consulates opened additional hours for visa appointments and made every possible effort to ensure timely arrival for academic programs for as many students as possible. Ultimately, these efforts paid off, as more students than ever before received visas to study in the US,” the statement added.
It said the US mission looked forward to another great student season.
