BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 29 AUGUST 2023:
The US President Joe Biden is coming to India very soon and we hope that that he will do something to resolve the long pending VISA issues in India , felt Ms. Anne Vasquez, Consular Section Chief of US Consulate General in Kolkata.
Incidentally, the 46 th US President Joe Biden will be arriving in India to take part in the two day G 20 Leaders Summit in New Delhi on 9th and 10 th September 2023.
President Joe Biden will stay in ITC Maurya Sheraton in New Delhi and will meet with Indian PM Narendra Modi also, besides attending the G-20 Leader summit , where global leaders like British PM, Rishi Sunak, Chinese President, Xi Jinping , French President Emanuel Macron, Australian PM, Anthony Albanese will also be present.
“Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), eastern India has organised a presentation of the VISA issues with Ms. Anne Vasquez and she has updated us with her valuable insights about the latest VISA regulations and process,” said Mr. Anil Punjabi, former chairman of TAFI ( east).
Speaking on the occasssion, Ms. Anne Vasquez has said that through the drop box facilities the VISA applicants can now try to get interview dates at any of the city offices in India, which is a big relief.
“ We are still working on the updates of the software system. It is a government system and will take some time resolve,”she added.
Reliefs are being given to emergency, medical and business VISa applicants in recent times, Ms. Anne Vasquez said.
The B1 and B2 Visa applicants are facing the worst problems in getting interview dates. (The B1 visa and B2 visa are temporary, non-immigrant, multiple-entry visas that allow the holder to travel to the United States for either business or tourism purposes).
In Kolkata it is taking about 430 days waiting, while in Mumbai it is taking even more than 500 days.
“ When our president Joe Biden arrives in India next month hopefully he must be discussiong these iuues of long pending visa appliacnts for USA and take some measures,”said Ms. Anne Vasquez.
If you are not getting the interview dates here in India, you can also apply in countries like Thailand and Germany and hopefully you will get the VISA and also there is waiver of interview for applicants who are under the age of 14, she added.
Mr Anil Punjabi further added that a large number of Indians visit USA every year to meet their friends and relatives staying there during the long holiday seasons in the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) Category and these inordinate delay in issuing B1 and B2 Visas are creating problems for both the travel agents and the visitors.
The members of TAFI insisted on introding a Fast Track System to have updates of the visa issues. She has handed over a token of appreciation by TAFI. Members of TAFI and aviation industry of Kolkata were present.
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