Applicants in India waited an average of 346 days for a US visitor visa interview in fiscal 2025, more than eight times the 42-day average before the pandemic, according to a federal audit released on Monday (US local time).
It does not describe the time taken to decide an application after an interview or the wait facing someone who applies today. The Government Accountability Office found that demand had outpaced consular staffing in India. The auditors visited New Delhi, along with Mexico City, Beijing and Sao Paulo. Across the four countries, officials identified staffing relative to demand as a principal factor behind interview delays. Space was another constraint. Auditors also saw hundreds of applicants waiting outside the US embassy and in secondary waiting areas. Officials also cited the work involved in assessing some applications and the role of paid visa agents. The department has changed its scheduling system to counter that practice.
The 346-day figure is a historical average for obtaining an interview. India received an estimated 1,455,255 applications for nonimmigrant visas in 2025, according to the federal audit. The State Department had 68 consular officers working on such visas in the country, which makes it about 21,401 applications per officer. Those figures cover several temporary visa categories, while the 346-day wait refers specifically to visitor visa interviews, it said.
State Department staff in India and Mexico said high demand and too few officers after the pandemic had hampered their ability to clear backlogs. The audit said there were too few interview windows in New Delhi for the number of officers needed to handle demand. A planned move to a new building on the embassy compound would leave the number of windows unchanged, the report said. Some agents reserve appointment slots as they become available and sell them to clients, according to State Department officials interviewed by the auditors.
