NEW DELHI, 14 January 2022, (TON): The US embassy in India has announced that it is closing in-person appointments for students. This decision was taken after interviewing a record number of applicants for the winter student season, which runs from October 1 to January 15.

Despite the pandemic, more than 55,000 Indian students and exchange visitors to the United States were given student visas, an all-time high.

The Embassy said in a tweet “in the interests of the health and safety of visa applicants and our team, we will not be opening additional in-person student appointments for the month of January. We thank all prospective applicants for their continued patience & understanding during these unprecedented times.”

It added “however, the US embassy has also informed applicants that is not planning to cancel previously scheduled appointments. “Currently, we are not planning to cancel previously scheduled student appointments. We continue to monitor the rapid spread of Covid-19 across India and the latest health and safety guidelines issued by the CDC and the government of India.”

Besides, Indian visa customers can still apply via post by the postal process or through emergency visa services resumed by VFS Global in early December 2021.