Hundreds of Indian students due to begin classes in the United States this August are scrambling for embassy interview dates, with many applications lodged after April still waiting for a slot, according to education consultants quoted by Hindustan Times on 18 July 2026. The bottleneck follows a record intake year and coincides with new U.S. rules that limit student-visa validity to four years, spurring a surge in late applications. Families report that the earliest available appointment dates are slipping into September or October—well after most U.S. universities start the fall semester. The U.S. Mission to India has not publicly explained the slowdown, but consular-processing data show that resources have been diverted toward rising demand for visitor and seasonal-worker visas. Emergency appointment quotas, used in past years to clear genuine academic cases, have not yet been activated. Some universities are offering deferrals or remote-learning options, yet students risk losing scholarships and on-campus housing. Travel agents also note higher-than-usual re-booking fees as families hedge bets by securing flights to the UK and Singapore as backup study destinations. Mobility managers should counsel graduate hires to assemble complete document sets—including Form I-20 and SEVIS fee receipts—so they can seize any last-minute slots. Advisers also recommend enrolling in the embassy’s paid “priority visa” pilot, which promises an interview within ten working days for an additional US$750.
Source: Hindustan Times
