U.S. Visit Visa: 994 Days @ HyderabadWell, some love to make the US their home; others simply want to visit the US as tourists while few others go on business trips. That sounds pretty simple on the face of it. However, getting a tourist visa or a business visa is now going to take 1000 days. Yes, you read that right. One will have to wait for about 3 years for visa interviews.

It is known that we have US embassies in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. The main reason for the delay has been stated as a lack of staff by the US Consulate. During lockdown and post-lockdown, US Consulate has been having staff problems and this is directly impacting the processing of visas for those intending to travel to the US for a holiday or on business work.

The Consulate constantly updates the wait time on its website. If you apply from Mumbai, there is a wait time of 31 months for B1 (tourist) and B2 (business) visas. If one applies from Hyderabad, the wait time is 994 days, 948 days from Chennai, 961 days from Delhi, and 904 days from Kolkata.

However, the Consulate also specified that the wait time is applicable to those applying for a US visa for the first time. During his visit to the US, union minister S Jaishankar took up the issue with his US counterpart and the US officials have promised to escalate the matter and take necessary measures to cut down on wait time.