US Immigration News

By Sanwar Ali:

The new US visa pilot program could help Indian workers and other immigrants save time on travel and wait times.  While visa wait times at US Embassies and Consulates is much reduced in many places including in India, it can be inconvenient to have to obtain a visa at an US Embassy or Consulate.

Sanwar Ali Comments:

Comments by Sanwar Ali:

In reality, despite a huge number of visa types, in practice the options for long term work visas for the US is somewhat limited.  Much of the time the only options are the E2 visa or

According to an analysis of US visa data by The Wall Street Journal, fewer US student visas are being issued to Chinese nationals. The WSJ claims that the US has granted 50% fewer visas to new Chinese students in the first six months of 2022 than before the COVID-19 pandemic. From January to June 2022, the US issued 31,055 student visas to Chinese nationals.

 

Washington DC-based thinktank, the Cato Institute, claims that US visa processing delays have hit their worst point since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. An analysis of the latest US State Department data shows that wait times for US student visa interviews are averaging 49 days as of July 2022 – five times longer than average wait times pre-pandemic.

 

Irish nationals have received less than 20 US diversity visas for 2023. Just 13 people from the Republic of Ireland and four from Northern Ireland have received US diversity visas out of the 55,000 made available, according to the US State Department. The 17 US visa winners were among those selected randomly from more than 9.5 million eligible applicants.