Under the new scheme, visa applications will be accepted on a `drop off' basis from business houses registered with the embassy.
The consular section of the embassy will accept applications for B-1 and C-1 visas on a `drop off' basis, provided that the business has its headquarters in the US consular district and the applicants reside in the consular district.
Moreover, the applicants should be executives or key technical personnel being sent for a temporary stay in the US on company business.
The US Embassy is issuing about 200,000 visas to Indians this year, which is an increase of 50,000 visas over last year.
Embassy officials at a recent meeting with exporters at the Federation of Indian Export Organisations had clarified that visas were denied because of incomplete applications, lack of credentials of businessmen and insufficient finance.
The embassy also clarified that businesses will blacklisted if they abuse the programme: that is, misrepresention of facts by applicants; persons who remain on the company's rolls but change status in the US; and persons who overstay for periods longer than stated.
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Meanwhile, the Madras US Consulate is planning to extend its `Business Express' visa service to more corporates in the South. This was announced during a meeting between Robin L Raphael, US assistant secretary for south asian affairs, and a group of industrialists in Bangalore on Tuesday.
The obstacles faced by the south Indian companies to acquire business visas at the Madras Consulate was discussed at length in the meeting.
The consulate has shortlisted around 200 corporate houses for issuing business visas by mail under its `Business Express' service which exempts applicants from personal interviews.
Under this programme, participating companies send a letter from an authorized company official to the consulate requesting for nonimmigrant business visas (B-1/B-2 visas) or H-1b visas (temporary worker visas). The letter is accompanied by a set of procedures prescribed by the consulate, following which the company receives the visa by post within a few days or latest by two weeks.
``The consulate was sympathetic to our problem and has agreed to extend this new system to more companies in the south,'' according to S K Maini, chairman of the Maini group, an automobile component supplier. The 200 corporates with foreign collaborations were first selected as a sample, he said.