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| Latest
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| 20th
March 2010 / Times of India / Bangalore Edition |
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 Your wait for US visa may get shorter
Video Conferencing Could Be Used For Interviews
Cuts Down Waiting Period
New Delhi: The US may consider making provision for video conferencing of visa interviews in India to cut down on the time taken to get clearances for travel to the country.
Officials in Washington are in the initial stages of discussing a provision by which a person living in Amravati or Nagpur does not have to travel to Mumbai for his visa interview and instead can answer questions through conference call facilities. If approved, this would cut down the number of trips a person must make to a consulate as well as the waiting period.
“We want to work with our federal partners to adhere to security standards while facilitating travellers. Reduction of waiting period for visas is one of the things we are focussed on. In fact, there are discussions with officials in Washington to put in place technology like video conferencing,” Caroline Beteta, national chair of the US Travel Association, said.
The US has five consulates in India that are barely able to keep pace with the growing demand for an American tourist visa. While visa waiting period has been shortened considerably, there is still a twoweek waiting period that tends to be much longer before the summer months when most Indians travel to long-haul destinations like the US.
In fact, the US has seen an increase of 122% in tourist arrivals from India with arrivals booming from 2,70,000 in 2001 to 5,98,971 in 2008.
The move comes close on the heels of the US government bringing in to force the Travel Promotion Act that seeks to promote US as a destination in overseas markets as well as explain changing travel security policies to foreign visitors.
Beteta, who is also president of California Travel and Tourism Commission, is in Delhi to promote California as a tourist destination.
“India is one of the fastest growing markets for California with Indian arrivals climbing from 41,000 in the 1990s to 179,000 visitors in 2008. Leisure travel is expected to increase by 14.5% in 2011. California commands a leading market share of 29.9% of the total tourists visiting America. The promotion is targeted at middle-class Indians that form a bulk of the population that has disposable income and the keenness to travel,” she said.
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