Curated By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: October 25, 2023, 09:24 IST
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
Indians were the second largest group of visitors to fly in led by the British and followed by Germans, French and Brazilians. (Image: Shutterstock)
Indians were the second largest group of overseas visitors to fly in led by the British and followed by Germans, French and Brazilians.
Indians are the second biggest overseas visitors to the United States this summer, a report by the US commerce department’s National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) for the second quarter of 2023 (April-June) revealed.
The “Inbound Survey of International Air Travellers (SIAT)” report showed that Indians braved the long waiting time for interviews and sky-high airfares to become the second biggest overseas visitors to the US.
Over 500,000 Indians flew to the US this summer. Almost a million visitors flew to the US from the UK this summer. The pole position was taken by Canada at 26 lakh and around 720,000 people from Mexico flew to the US this summer.
Over 4 lakh people travelled from France and Germany while close to 370,000 visitors from Brazil visited the US this summer.
This means that Indians were the second largest group of overseas visitors flying into the US this summer and, if the number of visitors from Canada and Mexico are discounted, if it is taken into account that these two countries share land borders with the US, then Indians become the third largest group of people flying into the US this summer.
A report by the Times of India citing insiders from the travel industry said that the number of Indians visiting the US could have been higher if not for visa delays.
The current wait time for B1/B2 visitor visas in India is about 1.5 years, a significant improvement from the nearly three-year wait seen last winter. The US embassy said it has taken steps to reduce this waiting period. In consulates in Mumbai and Delhi, the wait time for a B1/B2 visa interview is currently 596 and 542 days, respectively, while it is 526 days in the Chennai consulate, 539 days in Kolkata and 506 days in Hyderabad.
For the first time in India, the US Embassy has processed over a million non-immigrant visa applications this year. This is nearly 20% more than the number processed in 2019 and 2022, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Indians now represent over 10% of all visa applicants worldwide, including 20% of all student visa applicants and 65% of all H & L category (employment) visa applicants,” the US embassy said in September.
