The United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, has disclosed that her outfit has over the past 12 months processed some 7,000 student visas for Ghanaians. According to her, the 7,000 student visas issued show an almost 70 percent increase in visas issued from the same period last year and form part of efforts to ensure that more Ghanaian students get the opportunity to study in the US. In a video message which was sighted by GhanaWeb, Ambassador Palmer added that the measures the embassy has put in place also led to the increase in visas processed for other categories of people traveling to the US. “We have worked hard to ensure that students get expedited visa appointments before the start of classes this year. And we processed a record 7,000 student visa cases in the last 12 months alone. That’s nearly 70% more than our previous record. “In total, we processed over 32,000 visa applications in the past year. We are continuing to work to reduce the backlogs,” the ambassador said. She indicated that the measures the embassy has put in place include a reduction in the waiting time for non-immigrate visa appointments to less than six months. “That is down from two and half years when I arrived earlier this year. That is still too long but we are still taking steps to continue to reduce wait times, particularly for renewal,” she added. The American envoy also said that the embassy is working hard to reduce the waiting time for immigration visas. Watch the ambassador in the video below: You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: IB/DA