US Consulate In Hyderabad Extends Student Visa Season

In a relief to the students aspiring to pursue their higher studies in the US, the US Consulate in Hyderabad has extended the student visa season till the end of August, which is two weeks more than the earlier announced date.

The student visa interview will now continue until the end of August 2024. This decision of the US Consulate comes after students from Hyderabad started an online petition asking the consulate to open additional visa slots.

The petition claims that 10,000 F1 slots that opened post-midnight Sunday were booked within just five minutes leaving many in the waiting room.

The petition read: “The US Visa Portal is not allowing hundreds of Indian F1 visa applicants to book any appointments due to technical glitches on their end. We keep seeing the error: ‘Appointment limit reached. You can no longer schedule appointments. Most of us are first-time applicants, we all have valid fees and have not exceeded any appointment limits as acknowledged by customer support. We have missed several months’ appointments due to this.’

Hyderabad has a high waiting period for F1 slots which is 266 days, while Mumbai has 144 days of wait and Chennai 14 days. Delhi has a wait of 51 days and Kolkata has a wait of 19 days.