The US State Department has said it is working to reduce wait time for visas in several countries following complaints that processing of some visa classes is taking as much as 500 days in India and 300 in Turkey.

Apart from the US, visa application and processing are taking a long time for other countries like the UK, Schengen states and Canada. “Unfortunately, this is a challenge that we’ve faced around the world, and it’s a challenge that owes primarily to Covid and some of the lingering effects in places where those restrictions have only recently been lifted,” said US State Department spokesperson Ned Price. He said the problem also arose due to some of the limitations on the workforce. “It’s something we’re addressing with urgency. I know there are countries around the world where we’ve been able to shrink that wait time significantly, in some cases in half or more,” said Price. The average waiting time for new US visitor visas in India is over 500 days. In Hyderabad, the average wait time for a US visa appointment is 518 calendar days for a visitor visa and 479 days for a student visa. In Kolkata, the average wait time for a US visa appointment is 587 calendar days for a visitor visa and two days for a student visa.