The U.S. Consulate General Kolkata on Saturday opened its doors to interview over 250 visitor visa applicants.

This was the first of four “Super Saturday” visa processing events planned in 2024.

The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and U.S. Consulate Mumbai opened their doors on March 9 for similar special visa processing hours.

U.S. Ambassador Eric Garcetti said, “The foundation of our U.S.-India partnership is the network of relationships that individuals form when they work, travel, and study in the United States.  We’re doing everything we can to facilitate the visa process and support critical people-to-people connections.  The U.S. Mission in India has increased staffing and harnessed technological innovations to meet the unprecedented demand and process more visas than ever before.”

In 2023, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India processed a record-smashing 1.4 million U.S. visas. 

Demand across all visa classes was unprecedented, with a 60% increase in applications compared to 2022. 

Indians now represent one out of every ten U.S. visa applicants around the world.