Starting from January 1, 2025, the US embassy in India is changing its visa rescheduling policy. The new rules aim to reduce wait time and ensure fairness for all applicants.
The key changes are: One-time free rescheduling – applicants can reschedule their visa appointment once without paying additional charges, New appointments and fees for multiple reschedules – if any applicants miss and rescheduled appointment or need to change it a second time they will have to book a new appointment and pay the application fee again, Priority for students and business travelers-visa applications from students and business travelers to ensure will be prioritized first, Increased staffing-the embassy has increased the number of staffs to process more visa application, reducing delay in the visa process, and Special interview for first time applicants-the embassy has arranged special interviews for first-time applicants, making it easier for them to get their visas.
The US embassy says these changes will reduce wait time which currently ranges from 429 days in Hyderabad to 479 days in Chennai. Vice president of the Travel Agents Federation Anil Kalsi states that these changes will affect the current policy which allows applicants to reschedule appointments three times within a year. These changes will also help in reducing the misuse of the rescheduling system as some people get appointments through unauthorized sources. The US embassy’s new policy will affect many Indian applicants and its success will be closely watched
