United States ambassador to China Gary Locke has unveiled a pilot programme to waive visa interviews for 100,000 mainland applicants this year.
In remarks posted on the US embassy's website yesterday, Locke pledged a series of measures to shorten the visa-processing time, as the US seeks to attract more Chinese visitors.
Last year, the US embassy in Beijing and its mainland consulates processed 1 million non-immigrant visa applications, up 34 per cent from 2010. They processed 48 per cent more non-immigrant visa applications in the last quarter of last year, compared to the same period in 2010.
Mainlanders make up about 11 per cent of the total visa workload for US missions around the world, and about 90 per cent of applications from Chinese nationals are approved, according to US figures.
US President Barack Obama signed an executive order last month to boost foreign tourism. One of the measures is increasing visa-processing capacity on the mainland by 40 per cent this year.
Locke said US missions on the mainland would expand their visa-processing capacity by opening new consular facilities in Guangzhou and Shanghai, and adding about 50 consular officers this year.