Acquiring US visa going to be easier

Acquiring a visa for the US is going to be easier from next year when the American missions in the country will have additional facilities in place to cater to the ever-increasing number of aspirants.

The facilities, including additional visa windows, are to be set up in the missions in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai by the next year, Ambassador David C Mulford said here today.

The number of visa windows in the Consulate in Mumbai is going to be doubled, he said.

Besides, US Consulate will be opened in Hyderabad shortly, he told journalists here while briefing on the all-round growing ties between the two countries.

Observing that the traffic of Indians going to the US has been increasing over the years, he said 4,32,000 visas were issued in 2005 and the number last year stood at 2.2 million.