No drop in H1, L1 visas to Indians after visa fee hike

The US Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs said US Consulate is planning to complete the construction of its own premises in Hyderabad by 2020

The US Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Thoren Bond on Friday said there was no drop in H1 and L1 visas being issued to Indian citizens after the visa fee for these popular visa categories was increased since January this year.

In 2015 Indian citizens accounted for 72 per cent of all H-1B visas and 30 percent of all the L1 visas issued by the US government whereas the hike in visa fee of up to $4,000 for these categories was criticised by a section of Indian companies seeing it as a move to discourage Indian skilled work force taking up more jobs in that country.

"The companies expressed concern about higher visa fee but the move was not targeted at India. Everyone pays the same fee irrespective of their country of origin and there was no drop in the number of the H1 and L1 Visas issued in India since the rise in Visa fee," Bond said at a media conference.

Stating that there was an 81 percent rise in visas (all types) issued to Indian citizens over the past five year period, the US Assistant Secretary of State said the growing number of Indian visitors to the US was a reflection of the growing people-people relationship as well as the growing economic ties between the two countries.

Responding to a question on students being sent back from the US airports last year, Bond said there was no recurrence of incidents this year as her department had taken several steps including the increased coordination with the Homeland Security Wing to avoid such things.

US Consulate in Hyderabad, which issues the highest number of student Visas in India, ranks fifth across 200 plus US consulates in the world in terms of number of student visas issued every year. A total number of 60,000 student Visas were issued to Indian students last year, according to the US consulate authorities. US Consulate is planning to complete the construction of its own premises in Hyderabad by 2020. The new facility will have 52 interview windows compared to the 16 interviews at the existing premises.