According to a federal audit released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), applicants in India faced an average wait time of 346 days for a US visitor visa interview in fiscal 2025. This delay is more than eight times the 42-day average recorded before the pandemic. The audit noted that high demand has significantly outpaced consular staffing levels across the country. The 346-day figure represents a historical average for securing an interview and does not account for post-interview processing times or the specific wait time for a new applicant today.
Staffing Constraints and Regional Comparisons:
During fiscal 2025, India received an estimated 1,455,255 applications for nonimmigrant visas, handled by only 68 consular officers, resulting in an average of approximately 21,401 applications per officer. While the 346-day wait specifically applies to visitor visa interviews across several temporary categories, the comparison with other major markets highlights a stark contrast:
China and Brazil: The average visitor visa interview wait was just 34 days in China and 32 days in Brazil.
Mexico: Mexico recorded a 283-day wait, mirroring a similar application-to-officer ratio to India. Overall, India ranked seventh among the ten countries experiencing the longest average wait times.
Infrastructure Challenges and Mitigation Efforts:
Auditors who visited New Delhi, alongside Mexico City, Beijing, and Sao Paulo, identified staffing shortages relative to demand as the primary driver behind the backlogs. In addition to personnel constraints, physical space limitations posed challenges in New Delhi, where a shortage of interview windows and large crowds waiting outside the embassy were observed. Officials also pointed out complications caused by paid visa agents who reserve and resell appointment slots—a practice the State Department is actively countering by modifying its scheduling system. To mitigate these pressures, a Washington-based unit remotely processed 80.6 per cent of New Delhi’s interview-waiver-eligible visitor visa cases in fiscal 2024, while local staff also worked additional Saturdays.
