All hands on deck at US Consulate Mumbai to reduce visa wait time. Watch

Screengrabs from a video tweeted by US Consulate Mumbai (@USAndMumbai/Twitter)

The US has deployed “temporary visa officers” to Mumbai in ongoing efforts to reduce visa wait time for Indians.

“Our incredible team of consular officers have temporarily left their regular duties around the world, from State Department in Washington DC to US Consulate in Naha (Japan), to help out with visa operations in Mumbai,” the US Consulate in Mumbai tweeted on February 28.

An accompanying video revealed that consular officers deputed to Mumbai include Jessica, from Washington DC, who has been tasked with reducing visa interview wait time; Justin, from the US Consulate office in Okinawa, to facilitate travel to the US; Brooke, from the US Consulate in Hong Kong, to boost India-US business opportunities and Dan, whose mission is to support family reunification.

All hands on deck to reduce visa wait times! Our incredible team of consular officers have temporarily left their regular duties around the world, from @StateDept in D.C. to the @USConsulateNaha, to help out with visa operations in Mumbai. Together, we are #HereToServe. pic.twitter.com/T2MpNp8Mb5

— U.S. Consulate Mumbai (@USAndMumbai) February 28, 2023

Currently, the wait time for a B1 or B2 visa appointment at US Consulate in Mumbai is 694 days, according to the US Embassy and Consulates website.

The US had announced new initiatives in January to cut delays in visa processing in India, including special interviews for first time applicants and increasing strength of consular staff.

The Consulate General Mumbai currently adjudicates the most visa applications in India and is one of the largest visa operations in the world, the embassy said.

“It was a pretty rough couple of years in India. We have had a huge demand historically, even without a pandemic, across many visa categories. So not only visitors, but immigrants and students and workers, tech workers in particular. We’re processing all that now. So at this point we’ve put India in a different category from some of the others,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services, Julie Stufft, told travel news platform Skift.

(With inputs from PTI)