Over 1 million non-immigrant visas were issued to Indians in 2024, including a record number of visitor visas, US mission in India revealed last week. This marks the second consecutive year of such high numbers, underscoring the huge demand of Indians for travel to the US.
“The US mission to India issued more than one million nonimmigrant visas for the second year in a row, including a record number of visitor visas, underscoring the huge demand of Indians for travel to the United States for tourism, business, and education,” it said in a readout.
In the past four years, visitor numbers from India have increased by five times, and more than two million Indians travelled to the US in the first 11 months of 2024, a 26 per cent increase over the same period in 2023, it said.
Over five million Indians already have a nonimmigrant visa to visit the US and each day the mission issues thousands more, the embassy said.
The US mission to India issued tens of thousands of immigrant visas, facilitating legal family reunification and the migration of skilled professionals, according to the readout.
These immigrant visa holders became permanent residents upon their arrival, adding to the already rich and sizable Indian diaspora community in the US, it said.
H1B visa renewal in US
The embassy also informed that the State Department successfully ran a pilot program this year, allowing H-1B visa renewals within the United States. This helped many Indian specialty occupation workers to renew their visas without having to leave the country.
“This pilot program streamlined the renewal process for thousands of applicants, and the Department of State is working to formally establish a US-based renewal program in 2025,” it said.
Record number of student visa
Providing details about visas issued to Indian students, mission said, “More Indian students than ever before now have U.S. student visas. In 2024, India became the top sender of international students for the first time since the 2008/2009 academic year with more than 331,000 students overall studying in the US.”
It further added that India also remained the largest sender of international graduate students in the US for the second year.
As per the read out, Indian graduate student numbers increased by 19 per cent to reach almost 200,000 students.
The US mission said it remains dedicated to fostering strong bilateral relations and providing exceptional consular services.
“These achievements over the past year are a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Mission’s staff and the enduring partnership between the United States and India,” it said.
