Number of Indian students visiting US is on the rise

The number of Indian students visiting the USA has been rising every year as indicated by rising visa applications processed by the American embassy in India, a senior US envoy said here today.

"Last year, the number of visa applications increased by almost 20 per cent, but the number of visas applications by students increased by more than 20 per cent," US Consul General in Mumbai Thomas J Vajda siad.

He said Indians are the second largest student group in the USA after the Chinese.

"There has been a particular increase in the number of students studying in the USA. There are 100,000 Indians studying in America and it is the second biggest group after the Chinese," Vajda said.

He said as the Indian economy improves, more people would travel to America, adding, the USA facilitates travel for business, investment, tourism and education.

"For India, we issued almost 900,000 visas and in Mumbai alone it was 300,000 last year. So visa allocation last year was 20 per cent more than the previous year. We have spent hundred million dollars in India to create new facilities for visa services," he said.

The US embassy in India gets 1,500 to 2,000 visa applications a day, he said.

"Most of them are issued a ten-year visa. 65 per cent of those getting H1B visa are Indians," Vajda said.