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To cope with the increasing load of visa applications, a full-fledged consulate office of the United States is likely to come up in Hyderabad this year, Henry V. Jardine, Consul General of the U.S. Consulate said here on Wednesday.

"Though I cannot give the specific time, it will be fairly soon, maybe this year," Mr. Jardine said. Funds had already been allocated and the request for staff and other resources were being made for the new consulate.

Mr. Jardine, who formally inaugurated an access ramp for the elderly and physically-challenged visitors and visa applicants to the Kolkata office, said the Hyderabad office would relieve the burden of the Chennai consulate, which issues the highest number of visas in the country.

He said by 2011, there would be six consulate offices, which were expected to handle around 50,000 visa applications every year.

The number of applications processed in the last fiscal year was 3,58,000.

The figure for the current year was expected to be around half a million, Paul M. Fermoile, Consular Chief of the Kolkata consulate said. There are now three consulate offices in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, apart from the U.S. embassy in New Delhi.

At this rate of growth, India, which was currently placed third in the world with respect to the number of visas issued, would soon beat Mexico to the second spot. China, with four consular offices, issues the largest number of U.S. visas in the world.

"Business is proving to be a significant reason for the spurt in applications, along with an increasing number of students going to the U.S. for higher studies," Mr. Jardine said.