US President George W Bush in Pennsylvania

New Delhi, Oct. 10: A record number of Indian students have applied for visas to study in the United States over the past year, a senior US state department official said here today.

“Visa demand is skyrocketing throughout India. The overall demand for visas (of all categories) is up 61 per cent in India, one of the highest visa growth rates in the world,” the US assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, Maura Harty, said.

More than 50,000 young Indians have applied for student visas over the past year — a record number, Harty said.

Harty’s visit, to meet Indian officials on the “skyrocketing” visa application rate, comes at a time when the Prakash Karat-led CPM and other Left parties are advocating to their allies in the government that India maintain a distance from the US.

The US, Harty said, had issued over 571,000 visas in India alone.

“Our consular posts in India process over 100,000 temporary worker visas per year, more than in any other country in the world. India has more students studying in the US — 80,000 — than any other country,” she said at a media meet.

In 2006, the US department of commerce reported 407,000 arrivals from India — an increase of 18 per cent over the previous year.

“The department of commerce estimates that this year, India will move into the ranks of the top 10 countries sending visitors to the United States,” she said.

Harty said she was travelling to Calcutta and Chennai to meet student groups and understand their needs.

A new building is being added to the Mumbai consulate, which will take over the immigration visa process, currently handled at the Chennai consulate, Harty said.

The Delhi consulate will also have an extra building by 2009 to help expedite visa applications.

Hyderabad will have a consulate soon, Harty said, as almost one-third of all applications at the Chennai consulate come from Andhra Pradesh.