US visas in 7 days, fee cut

Indians intending to travel to the US can now get visa appointments within a week. The US government had also scrapped the Rs 2,223 reciprocal issuance fee for all non-immigrant visas for Indian citizens, a cut of 30 per cent in the visa cost, US Ambassador to India David C Mulford told reporters here today.

The move is to encourage more businessmen and tourists to travel to America.

While the visa issuance fee has been waived to restructure the system, applicants will still be required to pay the non-refundable application fee before scheduling a visa interview.

The strength of the consular staff in India has been doubled to facilitate cutting the waiting period from six months to seven working days.

Tourist movement from India, China, Mexico and Brazil is the most in the US. The number of non-immigrant visas issued per month by the consulate-general in Mumbai has almost doubled from 6,246 in November 2005 to 11,109 in October this year.

This move by the US government has been welcomed by Indian tour operators as well, who say it will give a boost to leisure travel to the US.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, traffic to the US had reduced with visa restrictions adding to the woes of travellers.

"This will benefit the leisure segment in a big way. The reduction in visa fees would automatically encourage more people to avail of the visas. This leisure segment is quite huge and we expect our business to the US to increase by 30 per cent," said Karan Anand, director, Cox & Kings.

"The number of flights to the US has also increased by 100 per cent over the last two years. Delta Air Lines recently introduced their Mumbai-New York non-stop flight, indicating that there is a great demand for this sector," added Anand.

While a few tour operators say they may include new destinations in travel package to the US, others prefer to wait and watch.

"We will see how the market reacts to this change. If the number of people travelling to the US increases due to this, which we are sure will happen, we will come up with new packages," said a Thomas Cook executive.