US visa officials expecting 6 lakh Indian applications this year

US visa officials were expecting to process six lakh applications in India this year, a top embassy official said.

The number of applications for US visa had increased by 30 per cent during the last fiscal, Geoff Pyatt, US Charge d' Affaires told reporters in Chennai after inaugurating new pre-screening windows at the US Consulate General.

However, he did not divulge the exact number of applications received during the period.

Visa applications at the Consulate in Chennai had also gone up by 83 per cent for the six-month period ended March 31, 2007.

"Previously, we used to process around 700-800 applications a day, but now we process around 1,200," said David T Hopper, Consul General in Chennai.

Pyatt cautioned applicants against falling prey to the brokers and agents promising to "get-in documents" required for applications and said that the visa procedures included strict verification of documents.

"An applicant may be permanently disqualified from being issued a visa to US if found with fraudulent documents," he said.