Dollar dream for business aspirants

BANGALORE: The ongoing United States of America (USA) visa rejection rate and refusal may have made headlines nationally, but the ‘American Dream’ continues to grow as there has been a 15 per cent hike in applications for business visas.“We have received 1,95,000 to 2,00,000 applications for non immigration business visas in the last 12 months”, Nicholas J Manring, Consul, American Consulate General, Chennai said. Speaking to Express, he said that the applications were mainly from Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar and the Lakshdweep Islands. “Even the H category visa applications have gone up by nearly 50 per cent”, he added. The US consul calculates the total number from October 1- September 30 (2010-11). “We have received more than 6,00,000 business visa applications from all across the country”, he shared. Commenting about the legal tussle between city based Information Technology major Infosys in the alleged misuse of HI-B visas, he said that there was no fluctuations or impact on the consulate processing visas. “We have officials who point out the appropriate category of visas and suggest the applicant to re-apply to a category which suits their requirements”,  he said. Stating that the consulate would communicate the same to Indian professionals travelling to the US, he said that they were currently meeting trade bodies and would meet industry majors to communicate the same.Also he said they were cautious in their approach towards IT professionals and their visas, and would do everything possible within the legal framework to approve visa applications. Commenting on the Tri-Valley University saga, he said that the US had now identified universities that were allowed to take foreign students. He said that they would communicate the same to students so that they will not get entangled in such issues. “This year we have approved 7,000 visas in our area of operation”,  he shared. Though there are a large number of companies and professionals travelling to the US from city,  he confirmed that there are no imminent plans of opening a consulate in the city.