Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

US upgrading service infrastructure

Image
BS Reporter Kolkata
Last Updated : Feb 05 2013 | 2:06 AM IST
To help grow commercial ties and other exchanges between the US and India, the United States Mission in India and the Consulates have been scaling up their facilities all over the country to expedite the visa counsellings process.
 
India is second only to Mexico in visa demand, and the largest number of new foreign students in the US, at well over 80,000 a year, are from this country.
 
The number of visa applications increased from 460,000 cases in 2006 to already over 720,000 cases in this fiscal year.
 
The US is keen to have legitimate travelers to their country in harmony with the government's 'Secure Borders, Open Doors' policy. Over 200 consular employees work to provide services to the traveling Indian public. The US consulate is planning to invest around $100 million to set up new facilities at Mumbai by 2008.
 
At the same time, it is also in the process of setting up a new consulate at Hyderabad that will be operational in late 2008, and improving the consular area at Chennai as well.
 
Kolkata, too, has seen similar upgradation in physical infrastructure, with a an improved outdoor waiting area, and is soon too have a new interior waiting area with expanded office space for the new staff recruits, said Peter G Kaestner, minister counselor for consular affairs and consul general, US Embassy, New Delhi.
 
The US consulate at Delhi is in line to get doubled very soon in terms of space and facilities, he added. A sum of $7 million would be spent on the renovation, adding 10 new interviewing windows to the current section by late 2008.
 
"In the next few years, we will continue to add many more officer positions to out consulates and embassy in India. In Kolkata, we project four more consular officers by 2011. We will receive a new visa officer here soon to help with visa investigations, which will expedite more complex cases", he said.
 
Officers from Hong Kong, Paris, and United States have been flown in over the last year to the city to support visa applications processing here.
 
Personnel strength has steadily increased from 12 new consular officers joining all over India in 2003-2005, to seven new recruits in 2006, and another 16 positions in 2007 and 2008.
 
In addition, dozens of Indian support employees have been hired.
 
More than 24000 Indian students received visas in fiscal year 2006, a 32 per cent increase from previous year.
 
India is about 30 per cent of the worldwide total for skilled temporary workers, with over 127,000 visas issued including for family members, last year.

 
 

Also Read

First Published: Sep 13 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

Next Story