The Hindu : Front Page : US consulate to be ready by year-end

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Saturday, Mar 08, 2008
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US consulate to be ready by year-end

It will be ‘up and running’ by October-November, says Mulford

Photo: Satish. H

Talks that matter: United States Ambassador to India David C. Mulford calling on Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday.

HYDERABAD: The consulate of the United States in the city will be “up and running” by October–November this year and offer the full range of consular services, according to American Ambassador to India David C. Mulford. The fifth consulate in the country, the Hyderabad office will have as many as 15 visa windows (Chennai has 18) and other infrastructure to process one lakh visas in the first year and this number will only increase in the days to come, Mr. Mulford said while speaking to a group of reporters here on Friday.

In addition to issuing visas, the consulate would offer other services too. In fact, some of the entities in the US diplomatic mission in New Delhi, the largest in the world, which is being represented by 23 federal agencies in the spheres of military, civil aviation, disease control and FBI, could bring their members here.

Stating that India accounted for 65 per cent of the H1B Visas, next only to Mexico, he said as many as 7.25 lakh visas were issued in the last 12 months and the demand was expected to grow by 20-30 per cent every year. There were no changes in the visa rules, but the process of issuance of visa had been made faster now.

Special efforts were being made to reduce the waiting period to get face-to-face interviews while measures had been taken to reduce the visa backlog. The waiting time that was at 187 days had been brought down to 110 now and efforts were on to further reduce it. “It is unacceptable to have India waiting for such a long period,” he said.

Replying to queries, he said there would be no significant impact of the rupee appreciation on the trade between the two countries and India continued to be the largest trade partner of the US. Earlier, Mr. Mulford called on Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and thanked him for extending “fantastic cooperation in allotting land at Gachi Bowli for establishing the permanent office of the US consulate and for providing space at Paigah Palace. He later visited the palace to see the progress of work.

City that works

The Ambassador said “we wanted to establish the consulate in a city that works and has a broad-based business community”.

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