Only 10% US visa requests are cleared

Nearly 500,000 Indians aspire to fly to the United States every year, but the American government issues only about 55,000 visas due to lack of adequate manpower and infrastructure, US Transport Secretary Norman Y Mineta said in Bangalore on Friday.

"We are overwhelmed at the number of people requesting for visas to the US. About 55,000 visas are issued, while there are nearly 400,000-500,000 requests," he told reporters on the sidelines of an interactive meet organised by the Bangalore chapter of American Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

He said he had discussions with the officials at New Delhi yesterday, where both India and the US signed an 'open skies' agreement that allows airlines from both the nations to fly as many routes and destinations between them.

He said processing visas for people to visit the US was taking time as the Congress had passed a law that made mandatory for officials to personally interview those who seek visas.

"We are improving infrastructure and adding more people," a US government official said.

He said the Chennai consulate, which has 20 officials involved in issuing visas, will have three additions by the end of this year. The Chennai consulate issues the largest number of visas to the US, largely to IT professionals from Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Mineta earlier visited the Indian Space Research Organisation and met Karnataka Industries Minister P G R Sindhia.