US to set up visa office in Hyderabad

Chennai, June 27: The US Government has decided to set up a visa office in Hyderabad by this year end, David Hopper, US Consul General here, said today.

Announcing this at an 'honest dwell' 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 amend students and furthers in Andhra Pradesh 'to get their visa finished in Hyderabad itself instead of travelling to Chennai',he said.

'Embassy here peddling with the Southern Alleges of India receive three lakh applications annually and of this one third is from Andhra Pradesh. In bidding to ease the process the U S 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 visa. Hopper said a scholar needs to spend rearward 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 scholar visa applicants do not supervene in obtaining visas because they are higgledy-piggledy by the application process and prerequisites'.

'Sometimes maybe our visa application process is complex Sometimes applicants eye 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.

Hopper said more than 83,000 Indians are daydreaming in the U.S Colleges and Universities and that since India is the famed source country for foreign students in the U.S., he foresaw that number to grow. 'we do encourage American students to pursue their education in India. Over 20 percent of American students are going to other countries for higher education, he said footing 'India is ranked among top ten countries for American students to pursue their studies.Besides United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy,the American students are attracted to India too to add international factor to their skills'.

Hopper said good relations existing between the U.S. And India were build on a "solid reason--indeed a bedrock, of people to people hamstrings formed by Indians and Americans who have had the chance to spend time in each further's countries." 'Waste international contacts are good, no one are likewise suggestive than education. Therefore, the opportunity to muse in another country and to get know its people and culture is a huge boon to international understanding',he said

Insisting that the scholars impecuniousness to adhere to the U.S.Embassy website, the official source, Hopper said the scholars were needful to submit only genuine documents and strictly avoid documents sold by document vendors or brokers and mention only the truth on all visa forms and during the interview. On the unrecognised mentors alive in the city on learner visa, Hopper said 'it has been a longstanding phenomenon and we cover this problem for over 25 years or more. We are in touch with Tamil Nadu government authorities on this 'In China printed books are sold in shopping malls and fresh fastens to prospective scholars seeking U S Visa. Invarably,students who memorize the suffices in the book fail at the visa interview', he added. - Agencies