Applying for US visa? You may get appointment only in 2024

Amit Chopra, a Gurgaon-based software engineer planning a white Christmas in New York this year with family, was in for a shock when he went to the US embassy website to apply for visitor visas. The earliest appointment was available in March 2024! “At this rate, we should be planning for Christmas 2024,” said Chopra

Scores of people planning to apply for US visitor visas have been stumped by unprecedented long appointment wait times. The US State Department website shows the average waiting for the same in India is about one-and-a-half years, which means those planning to apply now can get an appointment for March-April 2024.

Leading travel agents saidvisa applications and processing are taking a long time forseveral other countries too, including Schengen states, Canada and the UK. “Majority of the Europeanembassies are not even givingappointments for visas. Sweden is among the rare countries giving appointments. Similarly, one may get anappointment for Septemberend for Switzerland. VFS has avisa-at-home service for Austrian visas (for an extra charge). People are trying to getSchengen visas from these places,” said Travel Agents Federation of India joint secretaryAnil Kalsi.