HYDERABAD: A day after being unable to secure US visa appointments, students from Hyderabad floated on Tuesday an online petition urging the consulate here to open additional visa slots. Some students said they had been trying, unsuccessfully, to book a slot for over six months.
The US consulate-general, Hyderabad, responded officially on ‘X’, saying they had “extended the student visa season by two weeks” to ensure that students who interview later in the season will arrive in time.”StudentVisa interviews will now go on till the end of Aug,” the consulate said. Consulate sources said they would be adding more slots but were not giving numbers at the moment.
Students claimed that 10,000 F-1 (student visa) slots that opened post-midnight Sunday were booked within 5 minutes, leaving them stranded in the portal’s waiting room. While many still stayed logged in, expecting the page to be revived, their hopes crashed when multiple attempts failed. These students are now worried about their US university admissions as the fall session begins in Sept.
The student petition was initiated by Hyderabad’s Darsh Golecha, who has been accepted by Harvard for a master’s in education, learning, design, innovation, and technology. His session is scheduled to start in Aug.
“I have been trying since Nov 2023, but have not managed to book a slot even once. Whenever I try to book, it shows different things, like limits reached, portal error, site crashed, etc. My course starts in Aug and still I have not received any clarity from the consulate,” said Golechha, who has also sent an email to foreign minister S Jaishankar urging him to intervene.
“Their call centre representatives either say they will escalate the issue or ask us to refill the form, which requires paying the fee again. My college is starting mid-Aug and I am still waiting for a slot,” said H S Kumar, who has been accepted by a university in California.
“After paying Rs 15,540 to book the slot, my receipt was ‘locked’ by the portal. When I contacted customer service, they asked me to email ‘support India’ to ‘unlock’ it. Once it was unlocked, it got locked again during scheduling. This cycle of locking and unlocking happened four-five times for three months until one day it said ‘Limit reached’ and that I cannot schedule without paying again,” said A Rajeshwari, who has secured admission for a master’s in computer science and AI in Texas, adding that despite paying again, her issue remains unresolved.
Currently, Hyderabad has the longest wait period – 299 days – for a US visa appointment. In other metros like Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, waiting period is 14, 51, 19 and 144 days, respectively.
The US consulate-general, Hyderabad, responded officially on ‘X’, saying they had “extended the student visa season by two weeks” to ensure that students who interview later in the season will arrive in time.”StudentVisa interviews will now go on till the end of Aug,” the consulate said. Consulate sources said they would be adding more slots but were not giving numbers at the moment.
Students claimed that 10,000 F-1 (student visa) slots that opened post-midnight Sunday were booked within 5 minutes, leaving them stranded in the portal’s waiting room. While many still stayed logged in, expecting the page to be revived, their hopes crashed when multiple attempts failed. These students are now worried about their US university admissions as the fall session begins in Sept.
The student petition was initiated by Hyderabad’s Darsh Golecha, who has been accepted by Harvard for a master’s in education, learning, design, innovation, and technology. His session is scheduled to start in Aug.
“I have been trying since Nov 2023, but have not managed to book a slot even once. Whenever I try to book, it shows different things, like limits reached, portal error, site crashed, etc. My course starts in Aug and still I have not received any clarity from the consulate,” said Golechha, who has also sent an email to foreign minister S Jaishankar urging him to intervene.
“Their call centre representatives either say they will escalate the issue or ask us to refill the form, which requires paying the fee again. My college is starting mid-Aug and I am still waiting for a slot,” said H S Kumar, who has been accepted by a university in California.
“After paying Rs 15,540 to book the slot, my receipt was ‘locked’ by the portal. When I contacted customer service, they asked me to email ‘support India’ to ‘unlock’ it. Once it was unlocked, it got locked again during scheduling. This cycle of locking and unlocking happened four-five times for three months until one day it said ‘Limit reached’ and that I cannot schedule without paying again,” said A Rajeshwari, who has secured admission for a master’s in computer science and AI in Texas, adding that despite paying again, her issue remains unresolved.
Currently, Hyderabad has the longest wait period – 299 days – for a US visa appointment. In other metros like Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, waiting period is 14, 51, 19 and 144 days, respectively.