'Chennai consulate should adjudicate blanket L visa requests'

From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jul 27 (PTI) The US consulate in Chennai
should be designated as the only post in India authorised to
adjudicate blanket L visa applications, mostly involving
requests from IT professionals, according to an official
report here.
In a wide-ranging set of recommendations, the 90-page
report of the Office of the Inspector General on the US
diplomatic posts in India said that one of the biggest
challenges consular managers in India face is ensuring
consistency in the standards of adjudication on H and L visas.
"The inconsistencies arise from the complexity of these
visa categories and create public relations problems, as large
companies note different decisions for employees in similar
circumstances," it said.
"Mission India processes more such cases than any other
mission in the world. Many involve applicants who work in the
information technology sector. Because the law is complex,
consular officers need more time to adjudicate such cases and
need to exchange ideas with their colleagues who are working
on similar cases. Officers must refuse applicants who do not
meet the qualifications under the law," it said.
"Because the applicants apply based on petitions that
were approved by the Department of Homeland Security, consular
officers must request that department to revoke the
petitions," said the report, which was made public yesterday.
It also recommended that the US embassy in New Delhi
should coordinate with Consulate General Chennai so that the
call centre in New Delhi will respond to all routine phone
calls and emails for Chennai as it does for the other posts in
India.
Given the heavy demands on their time, the Ambassador,
deputy chief of mission (DCM) and senior staff should develop
a comprehensive strategy to allocate the Ambassador's and
their responsibilities for engaging with top-level Indian
counterparts and for managing their growing workload, the
report said, adding the DCM should lead this effort.
It recommended that the US consulate in Chennai, a
city in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, should be
designated as the only post in India authorised to adjudicate
blanket L visa applications.
Noting that housing issues are the mission's greatest
management challenge and finding affordable, quality housing
is becoming increasingly difficult, especially in New Delhi,
Mumbai and Hyderabad, the report said the mission and the
Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations should plan to build
housing units on US Government-owned land. PTI LKJ
ASR