New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) The long wait by Indians seeking appointments for American visas seems to be over. One may now get a visa appointment in six days at the click of a mouse.

The US missions across India are focusing all their resources to reduce delay in granting visas to Indians to deepen "the strong and growing bond of business and people-to-people contact" between the two countries, US ambassador David C. Mulford told reporters here Thursday.

Till now, it took anything between six weeks to six months for visa appointments.

Indians who want to advance their appointments can visit the embassy's appointments website www.vfs-usa.co.in. The facility is applicable to all categories including tourists.

Mulford also admitted, perhaps for the first time, that the "long and irritating" delay in granting visas had given "a bad name to the US" in India and unveiled the plan to deploy more personnel and resources to make "the process of traveling to the US as easy as possible."

"We could work faster and smarter to get rid of the backlog that brings a bad name to the US," said Mulford as he took a walk around the consular section of the US embassy here and even helped consular officials with interviewing visa applicants.

"We have therefore made a mission-wide commitment to reduce the waiting time for a visa appointment with the goal of eliminating this waiting period altogether, except of course where it is an individual's preference to make an appointment for some future date to fit their own plans," the envoy said.

"Nothing is more important for the future of our two countries than the strong and growing bond of business and people-to-people contact. Strengthening these connections is the future of US-India relations, and we have begun this process today."

"We plan to deploy personnel from other departments to assist the consular section. Twelve people are coming from Washington to reinforce the visa manpower," said Peter G. Kaestner, consul general at the US embassy.

Mulford also spoke about the decision to expand the business executive program to include more Indian companies and encourage more businessmen to travel to the US.

The US consular officials Wednesday held a meeting with leading business bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce to discuss the expansion of the business executive program.

The US envoy, however, clarified the streamlining of the visa appointment process did not mean an expansion of the total number of visas granted to Indians.

"We are not setting any target. Neither is there any annual quota. But we are not seeking to increase the total number of visas to be given to Indians," he said.

The US continues to be a promised land of sorts for millions of Indians and the number of Indians applying for American visa are increasing every year. The US missions processed 500,000 visas the last year.

The US also plans to open a new consulate general building in Mumbai and another in Hyderabad. The new building in Mumbai costing $100 million is expected to be operational by 2008.

There is also an ambitious renovation plan for the consulate section in New Delhi and a proposal to introduce 10 new interviewing windows. Likewise, new facilities will be introduced in Kolkata and Chennai.