External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised the issue of pending visa applications from India in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, which the top US diplomat said was sensitive to the issue and had a plan to address it. “It is also in our mutual interest to facilitate the development and mobility of talent. We agreed that the hurdles in this direction should be addressed,” Jaishankar told reporters during a joint media availability with Blinken at the Foreign Office headquarters in Foggy Bottom here after their more than an hour-long meeting.
US visa services are scrambling to clear the backlog after Washington US halted almost all visa processing around the world in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Indians make up a large portion of the recipients of H-1B and other work visas granted to skilled foreign workers, many of whom are in the technology industry. The H-1B visa is a nonimmigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical knowledge.
The Indian minister did not specifically mention the issue of H-1B visas during the joint press conference. There is a lot of interest in India’s national education policy and we will explore how this can best serve to expand our partnership, Jaishankar said. “When it comes to mobility, specifically visas, this is particularly important given its centrality to education, business, technology and family reunions,” he said.
“There have been some issues recently and I have brought this up to Minister Blinken and his team and I strongly believe they will look at some of these issues seriously and positively,” Jaishankar said. “Stay with us. That will happen over the next few months, but we’re very focused on that,” Blinken said when asked about the historic visa delays that now stand at 800 days.”I’m extremely sensitive about visas,” Blinken said.
