'US working to further reduce visitor visa wait time for Indians'

The United States is working towards further reducing the wait time for visitor visas for Indians following a decrease of 75 per cent last year, according to US Bureau of Consular Affairs Assistant Secretary Rena Bitter. In an interview with PTI, Bitter noted that today more Indians can travel to the United States than in any other time in history. "Last year, the Embassy in India processed 1.4 million visas, explosion of an incredible number...in every category there is no wait time at all except in one area of travel where there is still some wait time and that is people travelling for the first time to the United States for tourism," she said. "It has been reduced 75 per cent over the last year and we are working really hard on this. We recognise that it is an incredibly important bilateral relationship and the foundation of the relationship is the people-to-people ties, the business travel and the family ties. All these things are important to us and in Washington we are doing a