US Embassy to streamline visa process

New Delhi: President Obama has announced that he is willing to relax visa regulations for tourists in order to boost the US economy. He also identified India, Brazil and China as the countries, whose travellers will be granted this leeway. Obama declared the new initiative when he was campaigning in Florida, a state heavily reliant on tourism. The American Embassy in New Delhi announced that Obama had signed an Executive Order to boost tourism in the US and that streamlining of the visa application process would be its priority. "We want to make it easier for travelers to apply for a visa to visit the United States," James Herman, Minister-Counselor for Consular Affairs, said in a release in New Delhi.

President Obama has signed an Executive Order in order to boost tourism in the US, said the American Embassy

Herman said over the last five years the US mission increased staffing by over sixty per cent and opened two new consulates in Hyderabad (in 2009) and Mumbai (in 2011). Noting the importance of Indian travelers to the US, Herman said Indians represent the highest volume of work visa travelers to his country and the second highest number of foreign students there. He said 2011 was a record year for H1B work visas over 68,000 processed by Consular Team India alone and "we continue to support the people-to-people ties which define the growing partnership between our nations." In 2011, we processed close to 700,000 visa applications across the nation. Taking the initiative to boost foreign tourism and travel to the US, President Obama has issued an Executive Order to make it easier for foreign travellers throughout the world to visit his country and directed agencies throughout the US government to design a programme to make it easier for tourists to visit the United States. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/us-embassy-to-streamline-visa-process/223018-3.html