The 5 U.S. Visa Posts in India, at a Glance
New Delhi is technically the senior post — it coordinates the activities of the four consulates — but for the purposes of applying for a visa, all five function as independent interview locations with their own appointment calendars.
Which Consulate Covers Your State?
Officially, jurisdiction is assigned by home state, based on the U.S. Embassy & Consulates in India's own jurisdiction map:
This flexibility matters more in India than almost anywhere else we've covered, because wait times between posts can genuinely differ by months — which brings us to how booking actually works.
The Two-Appointment System: OFC + Interview
India is one of the few countries where applying for a visa means booking two separate appointments, not one:
OFC (Offsite Facilitation Center) appointment — biometrics only. Ten-print fingerprinting and a photo, no interview, typically 15–30 minutes. OFC centers exist in all five cities, and — like the consulate choice itself — you can book your OFC appointment at any city regardless of your home state or which consulate you'll interview at.
Visa interview appointment — at the actual Embassy or Consulate. This must be scheduled for at least 1–2 days after your OFC appointment, since your biometric data needs to process first.
Booking steps:
Complete the DS-160 at ceac.state.gov and save your confirmation number.
Create an account at ustraveldocs.com/in and pay the MRV fee.
Schedule your OFC appointment — any of the five cities.
Schedule your visa interview appointment — same city as your OFC, or a later date in a different city.
Attend OFC, then attend your interview a few days later.
Fees and Rescheduling Rules
Rescheduling rules have gotten stricter in 2026 — multiple sources report reduced free-reschedule allowances compared to previous years, with a full MRV fee repayment required beyond a limited number of changes. Because the exact number has changed and different reports describe it differently, confirm the current reschedule policy directly in your ustraveldocs.com account before assuming how many changes you're allowed.
Choosing a Consulate: Why Wait Times Vary So Much
India processes over a million U.S. visa applications a year across its five posts, and demand isn't evenly distributed — some posts consistently show longer waits than others, and which post is fastest shifts over time based on staffing, seasonal demand, and category-specific backlogs. Rather than quoting a specific number of months here (these change weekly and different tracking sites often disagree with each other), the more useful habit is this: check the Department of State's live global visa wait-time tool for all five Indian posts side by side before booking, and pick based on genuine current availability rather than your home city.
Warning: Third-party wait-time trackers and forums can be several weeks out of date or simply wrong, especially for fast-moving categories like F1 during peak intake season. Cross-check anything you read against the official Department of State tool before making a booking decision.
H1B Applicants: The New Social Media Vetting Requirement
This is the single biggest recent change affecting Indian applicants, and it's disproportionately affected India simply because India processes the largest volume of H1B and H4 cases of any country.
Effective December 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of State expanded its online-presence vetting — first introduced for F, M, and J visa applicants in June 2025 — to cover all H1B and H4 visa applicants. Under the new rules:
H1B and H4 applicants must set all social media accounts to public for the duration of the visa process
Consular officers review social media activity, professional networking profiles, and other publicly available online content as part of eligibility screening
Reports from India describe interviews booked for mid-December 2025 being pushed back by several months — some December 15–18 appointments were reportedly rescheduled into March, April, and May 2026 — as posts adjusted their daily interview capacity to accommodate the additional review time
Attorneys advising on this change generally recommend not deleting or abruptly locking down accounts close to your interview, since sudden changes in online presence can themselves draw additional scrutiny
Interviewivy Tip: If you're an H1B or H4 applicant booking now, budget extra time into your travel and start-date planning. This isn't a one-off delay that's already resolved — it's a structural change to how long the review step takes at every post, and it appears to be here to stay.
Refusal Rates: What the Data Shows for India
The B1/B2 figures come directly from the U.S. Department of State's FY2025 adjusted B-visa refusal rates by nationality. The F1 figures come from a 2026 analysis of State Department data reported by ICEF Monitor — the same source and methodology behind the F1 figures in our Ghana and Nepal guides, so these numbers are directly comparable across countries.
Two things worth noting: first, India's refusal rates are substantially lower than what we've documented for Ghana, Kenya, or Nepal — this remains one of the more favorable environments globally, even as the trend line is moving in the same upward direction most countries are seeing. Second, some industry trackers report meaningful variation between India's five posts — one analysis cited Mumbai's FY2024 B1/B2 refusal rate at roughly 22% against Hyderabad's roughly 38% — though this kind of post-level breakdown isn't something we could independently verify against an official government source, so treat it as a directional signal rather than a confirmed figure.
Every refusal, regardless of category or post, is processed under INA 214(b) — detailed in 9 FAM 302.1, covering ineligibility based on failure to overcome INA 214(b) — which presumes every applicant intends to immigrate permanently unless they demonstrate otherwise. We cover this mechanism, and how reapplication works, in F1 Visa Rejection Under 214(b): Common Reasons and What to Do Next.
Do's and Don'ts
Do's:
Book your OFC and interview at whichever cities actually have the earliest availability — you're not required to stay in your home jurisdiction
Check the official Department of State wait-time tool directly rather than trusting a single third-party tracker
If you're an H1B/H4 applicant, set your social media to public well before your interview, not the night before
Keep your DS-160, financial documents, and (for F1) your I-20 fully consistent across every form
Don'ts:
Assume your consulate choice is fixed by your home state — it isn't
Delete or lock down social media accounts right before your interview if you're an H1B/H4 applicant
Rely on forum-reported wait times for your actual booking decision
Underestimate how much the interview itself matters just because India's refusal rates are comparatively lower — "lower" is not "low"
India's U.S. visa system is more complex than a single-embassy country simply because there's more of it — five posts, a two-step appointment process, and policy changes (like the H1B social media review) that hit India harder than most countries purely because of volume. None of that complexity changes what actually decides your outcome, though: a consistent, well-documented application and an interview answer that sounds like you, not a script. Use this guide to get the logistics right — which post to book, how the OFC step works, what's changed for H1B applicants — and then put your real preparation time where it counts most: the few minutes you'll actually spend at the window.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes only and is not legal or immigration advice. Visa decisions are made solely by U.S. consular officers based on your individual circumstances and applicable U.S. immigration laws and policies. While we strive to keep our content accurate and up to date, requirements and procedures may change. Always refer to official U.S. government resources for the latest guidance.