22 September 2009

Last year's US visa numbers for Indian nationals released

New figures from the American Government has shown that of the 6.6 million American visas issued last year globally, around 630,000 American visas went to Indian nationals.

Last year, the US Consulate in Chennai issued around 230,000 US visas last year, 2.5 times more than the number of US visas it issued in 1999.

Chennai-based US consulate officer Ravi Srivastava said of the 230,000 US visas issued last year 50 per cent were American travel visas, 36 per cent were American work visas for migrants and their dependents, and 9 per cent were American student visas. The remaining American visas were for VIPs.

The majority of Indian nationals were travelling to the US on the American Business Visa (B-1) and American Tourist Visa (B-2), Ravi Srivastava said.

Around 90,000 Indian students are studying in the US on American student visas, and the relationship between India and the US has "grown strong," Ravi Srivastava said. 

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The American Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in American visa and immigration services.