Friday November 13, 04:50 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

Recession hits number of US visa applicants

By fe Bureaus
The number of visa applicants to US has gone down significantly owing to global recession, US secretary of state for consular affairs Janice L Jacobs said here on Thursday. She is in the city for a two-day visit to take part in a United States - India Educational Foundation event, organised by the US Consulate in Kolkata. The global recession took its toll on the number of visa applicants to US, including student visas, last year. We expect this will go up once recovery begins, Jacobs said. The US embassy and our four consulates in India are working hard to be responsive to the thousands of qualified Indian students who seek the opportunity to study in the US . We are making the visa process for students smoother by adding staff and resources to give priority appointments to them, Jacobs said. She said Indian student visas granted by the US was the highest for any single country and added 95,000 Indian students were studying there. Security is a serious issue of concern for the US government, students and even parents. The educational institutions across the US are paying attention to the matter. We have had such incidents at places. But the schools are looking at the policies related to security on campus. And they are trying to enhance security across colleges in the US, she said. Last year there had been a decline in the number of visas issued from the Kolkata consulate visa office. The figure was 1200, William S Roland, chief of consular services in the Kolkata consulate, said. Asked whether the US government was contemplating any move on immigration reforms, Jacobs said the US Pesident Barak Obama would soon take up the matter of immigration reforms.