US Immigration News

There has been a decline in the approval rate for US L-1 visas for Indian professionals. New data shows that the US L-1 visa denial rate is higher in India than in any other country.

Colorado US Senator Michael Bennet introduced a bill last month that would grant greencard visas to foreign students graduating in specialties in science, technology, engineering and maths. The hope, he said, is that international students trained in America will stay in the country to help fill shortages in high-tech fields instead of returning to their home countries and perhaps ending up helping overseas companies compete with US companies.

The number of international students on F-1 student visas enrolled in post-graduate business schools in the US has been rapidly increasing. According to a recent BusinessWeek article, the average international student enrollment in the top 20 full-time US MBA programs "is now 33.4 percent, up from 30.2 percent at the height of the economic crisis, when visa and financing issues prevented many international applicants from enrolling."

The US Consulate General in Shanghai is increasing in size in order to deal with the rapidly increasing number of US visa applications it processes. In 2011, US consular officers in China had processed more than 1 million non-immigrant visa applications, 30 percent of them in Shanghai. These visa applications are mainly from Chinese citizens wishing to visit the US on B-1/B-2 visit visas.

While US tourism leaders are pushing for reduced wait times for processing visitor visa applications for foreign visitors, a US Commerce Department official said last week that the State Department has already made progress in accommodating the record demand for US visitor visas.