US Consulate in Hyderabad extends student visa season by two weeks

In order to provide students ample time to have their visas processed, the US Consulate in Hyderabad has announced that the student visa season would be extended by two weeks. Regarding “X,” the US Consulate-General in Hyderabad announced a two-week extension of the student visa season. The consulate announced, “Applications for student visas will now be accepted until the end of August.” Specific numbers were not provided, despite the consulate’s indications of plans to add more spaces.

The announcement was made in response to students from Hyderabad who were having trouble getting appointments for US visas. On Tuesday, they started an online petition asking the embassy to provide more visa slots. Ineffective attempts to reserve spots for more than six months were reported by numerous students.

Students reported that within five minutes of being released shortly after midnight on Sunday, 10,000 F-1 visa spots were taken, leaving many of them stuck in the portal’s waiting area. These kids are still nervous about getting into universities because they are worried about the next autumn semester, which begins in September.

At 299 days, Hyderabad currently has the longest wait time for US visa appointments. The wait durations in other big cities are shorter: Delhi (51 days), Kolkata (19 days), Mumbai (144 days), and  Chennai (14 days).

Darsh Golecha, who was accepted by Harvard for a master’s program in education, learning, design, innovation, and technology, started the petition, according to a TOI article. His course begins in August. Golecha expressed his annoyance, saying, “Since November 2023, I have been attempting to schedule a slot, but I have not been successful even once. Every time I attempt, various messages appear, such as “limits reached,” “portal error,” “site crashed,” etc. August marks the commencement of my course, and I have yet to hear any clarification from the consulate.