One out of every five student visas awarded by the US goes to Indians, as highlighted by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, who lauded the close educational relations between the two countries. Garcetti praised the US consulates in India for their efforts to shorten the wait periods for visas, which led to India overtaking all other nations as the top supplier of foreign students in the US. Nearly 200,000 Indian students, or more than 21% of all international students, were enrolled in American universities during the 2021–2022 academic year.
Indian students have excelled in the US, according to Garcetti, who also anticipated that the trend will continue. He highlighted that in 2022, India issued the most H&L job visas (65%) and F1 student visas (17.5%) globally. Additionally, almost 1.2 million Indians visited the US, confirming their place among the biggest overseas tourist populations.
The US Mission in India celebrated its eighth annual student visa day, where some 3,500 Indian applications for student visas were interviewed by consular officials from several locations, to commemorate the two nations’ strong educational connection. The mission will be able to handle over one million visa requests in 2023, including a record-breaking number of student visas, according to Garcetti, who thanked the students and voiced confidence in the mission’s abilities.
