Eric Garcetti, the new U.S. Ambassador to India, told NDTV that President Biden told him, “Eric, go fix this … Reducing the wait time for U.S. visas for Indians is not just a 10th or 11th priority. It’s the number one priority for me.”
Garcetti takes charge at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to travel to the U.S. on a state visit on June 22. U.S. President Joe Biden is also expected to visit India later this year to attend the G20 summit in New Delhi.
“Already, wait times [for visas] are down 60 per cent since the beginning of the year,” Garcetti explained to NDTV. “In January, February and March, we processed a record number of visas. Last year the largest source of student visas came from India than any other country,” he added.
The U.S. is on track to issue more than a million visas to Indians this year, a top U.S. government official had said in April. The U.S. is also prioritizing H-1B and L visas, the most sought-after by information technology professionals from India, Donald Lu, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, had told news agency PTI in April.
While discussing India’s G20 presidency amid the war in Ukraine, Garcetti noted that India’s G20 presidency is “impressive” as “India is a bridge between the past and the future, between east, west, north, south.”
“We stand with India on those aspirations to make sure G20 is not just about the war in Ukraine. We won’t stop speaking out strongly about an unprovoked invasion by Russia. I am sure Indians understand how important borders and sovereignty are. At the same time we know there are relationships that have been there for decades,” he said.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
