Washington

Applicantsin India waited an average of 346 days for a US visitor visa interview in fiscal 2025, more than eight times the 42-day average before the pandemic, according to a federal audit released on Monday (US local time).

The Government Accountability Office found that demand had outpaced consular staffing in India. The 346-day figure is a historical average for obtaining an interview. It does not describe the time taken to decide an application after an interview or the wait facing someone who applies today. According to the federal audit, India received an estimated 1,455,255 applications for nonimmigrant visas in 2025. The State Department had 68 consular officers working on such visas in the country, which makes it about 21,401 applications per officer. Those figures cover several temporary visa categories, while the 346-day wait refers specifically to visitor visa interviews, it said.

The comparison with other large visa markets was stark. The average visitor visa interview wait was 34 days in China and 32 days in Brazil. Mexico, which had a similar number of applications per officer to India, recorded a 283-day wait. India was seventh among the 10 countries with the longest average waits.

The auditors visited New Delhi, along with Mexico City, Beijing and Sao Paulo. State Department staff in India and Mexico said high demand and too few officers after the pandemic had hampered their ability to clear backlogs. Across the four countries, officials identified staffing relative to demand as a principal factor behind interview delays.

Space was another constraint. The audit said there were too few interview windows in New Delhi for the number of officers needed to handle demand. Auditors also saw hundreds of applicants waiting outside the US embassy and in secondary waiting areas. A planned move to a new building on the embassy compound would leave the number of windows unchanged, the report said.

Officials also cited the work involved in assessing some applications and the role of paid visa agents. Some agents reserve appointment slots as they become available and sell them to clients, according to State Department officials interviewed by the auditors. The department has changed its scheduling system to counter that practice.

The State Department has tried other ways to ease the pressure. In fiscal 2024, a Washington-based unit remotely handled 80.6 per cent of New Delhi’s visitor visa cases eligible for an interview waiver. Staff in New Delhi also worked extra Saturdays to process applications.