US approves record number visas for Indian students despite pandemic

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The US has approved the highest number of student visas applications from India this year despite the Covid pandemic.

“Through these efforts, more than 55,000 students and exchange visitors are boarding planes to study in the United States, and more students are being approved every day. The U.S. Mission looks forward to another great student season as it facilitates study for spring semester students over the coming few months,” the US Mission said in a statement.

Ambassador Atul Keshap, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in New Delhi stated: “Studying in the United States is a unique and often life-changing experience for Indian students, granting fresh, global perspectives and frequently leading to invaluable career opportunities. Indian students also enrich US society, achieve high levels of academic success, and deepen the bonds of friendship between our countries. The many hard-working women and men of the US Mission to India are proud to facilitate their travel and study.

The Mission said the pandemic had created logistic challenges for the consular teams. Embassies and Consulates typically begin interviewing fall semester students for a given year in May, but the second wave of COVID-19 forced the Mission to delay the commencement of its student visa season by two 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,” it said.

The Mission said the embassy and consulates functioned for extra hours for visa appointments and made every effort to ensure timely arrival for courses for as many students as possible. “Ultimately, these efforts paid off, as more students than ever before received visas to study in the United States,” it said. (NDTV)