ISLAMABAD: Almost 10,000 applications were processed each month by the US visa offices in Islamabad and Karachi, and the wait period for an appointment has been cut in half from the previous year.
According to a senior US embassy official speaking to the media here on Wednesday, the quantity of visas issued by the offices in Karachi and Islamabad hit a record high in 2023.
According to him, the figure will rise in the current US fiscal year, which concludes in October 2024.
The official said that following several steps taken by the embassy, the appointment waiting period has now been down to 237 days. The official had mentioned a crisis-like situation in September 2023 when the visa appointment waiting time peaked at 440 days.
Nonetheless, he added, if the appropriate official was persuaded, visas are granted five days following the interview.
According to the official, the reason for the delay in processing visa applications is that each one is handled separately and given a separate evaluation.
According to data on the US government website, Pakistan issued 107,183 non-immigration visas in total during the fiscal year that ended in October 2023, as opposed to 72,082 visas during the previous fiscal year.
The official stated that the most visas were ever awarded last year as a result of the large number of applicants, and that figure is predicted to rise in 2024.
Students are given preference in the US immigration department, according to the official.
On the other hand, citing privacy concerns, the official declined to provide journalists with information regarding the percentage of visa applications that are denied and the overall number of applications that are received at the visa sections in Islamabad and Karachi.
In September of last year, the US embassy in Karachi faced the biggest demand it had ever seen for US visas. As a result, the embassy announced several measures and increased the capacity at both locations to process visas.
