The United States has approved a record number of Indian student visa applications in 2021. This comes despite the many challenges that people are facing in travelling abroad. As per the US embassy, more than 55,000 students and exchange visitors have or will board planes to study in the United States this year. The statement by the US embassy in India comes amid reports of students in several other countries struggling to get their visas although the classes have begun. “This year, more than 55K students are boarding planes to study in the United States, an all-time record in India,”the US embassy India tweeted.
The second wave of Covid-19 forced the Mission to delay the commencement of its student visa season by two months. “More students are being approved every day. The US Mission looks forward to another great student season as it facilitates study for spring semester students over the coming few months,” the US mission in India said in a statement. In July, the resumption of visa services allowed after declining in COVID-19 cases.
“The U.S. Embassy and Consulates opened additional hours for visa appointments and made every possible effort to ensure timely arrival for academic programs for as many students as possible. Ultimately, these efforts paid off, as more students than ever before received visas to study in the United States,” the US embassy added.
The Covid-19 pandemic created tremendous logistical challenges for the U.S. Mission’s consular teams. Embassies and Consulates typically begin interviewing fall semester students for a given year in May, but the second wave of Covid-19 forced the Mission to delay the commencement of its student visa season by two months. In July, as soon as conditions allowed for the resumption of visa services without endangering applicants’ health and safety, consular teams worked not only to match, but surpass, their pre-Covid workload
New international student enrollment in the United States dropped 43% in fall 2020 from the year prior, months after Covid sent the world into lockdown. Similarly, the number of new students who actually made it onto campus in person declined by 72 per cent.