The US refused more than half of the applicants visa last year in Bangladesh.
The visiting Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Thoren Bond said about 70,000 people applied last year and of them more than 30,000 were granted entry.
She made the disclosure on Monday while announcing changes in the visa application effective from Sep 14.
All applicants will be able to schedule their visa interview appointments online and pay their applications fees at any branches of HSBC bank.
They will be able to pick up their passports from Chittagong and Sylhet, apart from Dhaka.
Bond said obtaining an interview appointment for a US visa had never been easier through the process, but the standards for visa issuance remain the same.
“Every individual applying for a US visa must convince a consular officer, at the time of interview, that they have substantial ties outside of the US that will ensure their return to Bangladesh.”
She said with the increasing number of visa applicants, the visa issuance rate had also gone up.
She said they refused those who were “not eligible for visa, so we cannot issue (them)”.
Another factor, she mentioned, was that there were some people who kept trying despite refusal that added up the tally of refusal rate.
She, however, said more Bangladeshis than ever were applying for visas due to Bangladesh’s “growing middle class and active expatriate community”.
Bond said the US authorities remained committed to facilitating “legitimate travel” to the US.
The US ambassador Dan Mozena at the press briefing said student visa applicants had also gone up.
This year the US has granted visa to about 2,000 students, a figure similar to the number issued last year. It was 1,300 in 2012.
The ambassador said half a million Bangladeshis were currently living in the US.
Bond came to Dhaka on Saturday on a four-day visit.
Source: bdnews24
