US to set up visa office in Hyderabad

CHENNAI: The US Government has decided to set up a visa office in Hyderabad by this year end, American Consul General David Hopper said here on Friday.

Announcing this at an 'open house' interaction with the media here, Hopper said the full-fledged visa office will be set up at Hyderabad by the end of 2008. This will help students and others in Andhra Pradesh "get their visa done in Hyderabad itself instead of travelling to Chennai," he said.

"Embassy here dealing with the southern states receive three lakh applications annually and of this one-third are from Andhra Pradesh. In order to ease the process the US government has decided to set up a full-fledged visa office in Hyderabad," he said.

The 'Open House' convened by the embassy dealt with the processes of issuance of student visas. Hopper said a student needs to spend about 60 to 90 minutes for his or her visa.

Referring to bogus documents submitted by students along with visa applications, he said "we are worried that some student visa applicants do not succeed in obtaining visas because they are confused by the application process and requirements."

"Sometimes maybe our visa application process is complex Sometimes applicants view the process as mysterious as they do not know what to expect during the visa interview. Sometime they may have obtained poor information from consultants, who even conduct mock interviews for the students and misguide them," he said.