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{{Short description|American consulate in Tamil Nadu, India}}{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}

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}}The Consulate General of the United States of America in Chennai represents the interests of the United States government in Chennai, India and surrounding regions. The consulate reports to the ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The current Consul General, the 27th, is Christopher W. Hodges, incumbent since July 2023. He was preceded by Judith Ravin.Ranked one of America's biggest adjudication posts in the world, the Chennai Consulate also ranks first globally in processing employment-based visas, ranks among the top globally in issuing 'L' and 'H' category visas, and ranks eighth globally in terms of all category of visas being issued. As of 2009, about 20,000 visitors enter the consulate every month to obtain a range of services, including the American Library and cultural and educational programs conducted by the Consulate General.

Location

The Consulate General building is located at 220 Anna Salai, and abuts the Oxford University Press building. The building stands at the intersection of Anna Salai and Cathedral Road on the Gemini Circle facing the Anna Flyover on a land leased for long-term from St. George's Cathedral and has entrance on both roads. Both the Consulate General and the American Library Center are located in the same building.WEB, Contact Us at the Embassy, Embassy of the United States, New Delhi,weblink 15 Jan 2012, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20120119070216weblink">weblink 2012-01-19,

History

Trading links between the United States and the East India Company's territories began when the American ship Chesapeake sailed up the Hooghly to anchor in Calcutta in 1786, just ten years after the United States Declaration of Independence. On 19 November 1792, the then American President George Washington appointed Benjamin Joy, a businessman from Newburyport, Massachusetts, as the first American Consul to India. With the advice of the then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and consent of the Senate, President Washington commissioned Joy to that office on 21 November 1792. When Joy reached Calcutta in April 1794, the colonial government repudiated his commission. However, he was permitted to 'reside here as a Commercial Agent subject to the Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction of this Country ... ', and he stayed in Calcutta and served as the commercial agent of the American government.WEB, About the Consulate, US Consulate Kolkata,weblink 17 Jan 2012, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151025091257weblink">weblink 2015-10-25, File:EID Parry headquarters.jpg|thumb|left|Dare House at Parry's CornerParry's CornerTo manage U.S. maritime interests in South India, Joy appointed William Abbott, a British-born American merchant, as the first American consular agent of the Madras Presidency on 24 November 1794, who served for more than a decade.WEB , The Reorganization Act of 5 April 1906 regularized consular service with fixed tenures of office, fixed salaries, a system of promotion, and seven position classes including consuls general and consuls. This changed the prevailing trend, and in June 1908, the post of consular agency was raised to the rank of a consulate. In December 1908, with the recommendation by the U.S. Department of State, Nathaniel B. Stewart was appointed as the first representative of the American government with the title of Consul in Madras, who served the next two years.NEWS With India gaining independence, the American diplomatic post in Madras was officially raised to a Consulate General on 15 August 1947, marking a milestone in the bilateral relationship between the two countries. On the same day, Roy E. B. Bower became the last consul and the first consul general in Madras in independent India. With Parry's Company wanting the whole building in 1952, the Consulate had to look for new premises. Five years later, in the 1950s, the Consulate General moved to a building on Mount Road (the present-day Anna Salai), currently occupied by the Bank of America. With the expansion of the Indo-U.S. relations after Independence, the Consulate General required a purpose-built structure to accommodate a diversity of activities such as library services, cultural programming, educational exchange, visas, American citizen services and development assistance, along with the ancient standby, trade promotion. For this purpose, the Consulate General leased out a parcel of land on the Gemini Circle from the Church of South India to build its own building. On 3 January 1969, the Consulate General moved to its present location at the Gemini Circle, which was inaugurated by Ambassador Chester Bowles.In June 2022, the consulate celebrated its 75 years of diplomatic relations with independent India.NEWS, Consulate General celebrates 75 years of U.S.-India partnership, The Hindu, Chennai, Kasturi & Sons, 17 June 2022,weblink 25 January 2023,

Architecture

(File:USConsulateChennai building1969.jpg|thumb|right|The Chennai Consulate General Building in 1969)The American consulate building was designed by the New Orleans firm Burt, Lebreton and Lamantia, combining the American architecture of the 1960s and features of traditional South Indian architecture.BOOK, Muthiah, S., S. Muthiah, Madras Rediscovered, EastWest, 2014, Chennai, 89–90, 978-93-84030-28-5, The architecture of the consulate building was inspired from the traditional houses of Thanjavur and Karaikudi. The American architect hired to design the building traveled around South India in search of inspiration before zeroing in on the final theme.WEB The building has a library space in the second floor. It also has a large auditorium.A new office building of the Consulate General was planned in 2008 to be built in about five years. It still has not been built, but plans still remain.NEWS

Consular District

The Chennai consular district, covering three states and three union territories of the country, serves a population of about 160 million and includes seven official languages used daily in the post's visa operations.MAGAZINE Owing to the drastic increase in visa demand from the Chennai district in the recent years, the embassy at New Delhi designated all of India as one consular district. This enabled people seeking visa appointments in New Delhi and Calcutta even if they traditionally live in the Chennai consular district.

Functions

The Chennai Consulate serves the Chennai consular district, which includes the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and the union territories of Lakshadweep, Puducherry, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.WEB The consular section at the Chennai Consulate has been expanded eight times since 1988 and was designed to process 2,500 visa applications annually. In 2004–2005, the Chennai Consulate General processed approximately 8,600 immigrant visa cases, issuing 5,300. The consulate no longer processes immigrant visas.From 1 December 2011, the Chennai Consulate General became the only center in the country to receive and process blanket L category visas meant for managers, executives, or specialized knowledge professionals transferring within their company.NEWS The Chennai Consulate is one of America's biggest adjudication posts in the world and the number one globally in processing employment-based visas.NEWS With more than 300 employees, the Chennai Consulate processes 900 applications a day of which around 500 to 600 are 'B1' and 'B2' visas for temporary stay in the United States.NEWS Till 2005, the fraud prevention unit (FPU) of the Chennai Consulate General was home base for the India country coordinator for consular fraud-prevention programs, a position later transferred to the embassy in New Delhi. The Chennai Consulate General's quarterly India Fraud Bulletin has been reviewed by the Department of State.The community liaison office at the Chennai Consulate General publishes a newsletter Chennai Masala.

Staff

File:Secretary Clinton Delivers Remarks to Staff and Family Members of U.S. Consulate General in Chennai, India.jpg|250px|thumb|U.S. Secretary Hillary ClintonHillary ClintonThe Consulate General is headed by the Consul General, who directs its activities for a tenure of three years. As of 2005, there were 20 foreign service officers in the Chennai Consulate General, up from five officers in 1999. Despite this increase in staff, the Chennai Consulate General cannot cope with the NIV demand due to heavy workload.WEB

List of Consuls General{| class"wikitable sortable"

!Rank!Portrait!Name!Term!width=270px | Notes |1||Roy E. B. Bower|1947–1950|First consul general after the diplomatic post was upgraded as a consulate general|2||Robert B. Streeper|1950–1953||390px)Waldo Emerson Bailey>Waldo E. Bailey|1953–1956||4||Robert M. Taylor|1956–1959||5||Henry C. Ramsey|1959–1962||6||Thomas W. Simmons Sr.|1962–1965||7||Albert B. Franklin|1965–1968||8||Thomas M. Recknagel|1968–1971||9||Stephen E. Palmer Jr. LAST = KENNEDY DATE = 30 JUNE 1995 PUBLISHER = LIBRARY OF CONGRESS QUOTE =, ||10||John Eaves Jr.|1973–1976||11||Charles W. McCaskill LAST = KENNEDY DATE = 7 JULY 1993 PUBLISHER = LIBRARY OF CONGRESS QUOTE =, ||12||Douglas M. Cochran|1979–1982||13||Daniel F. Waterman|1982–1985||14||John D. Stempel LAST = DATE = N.D. PUBLISHER = UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE QUOTE =, ||15||Thomas M. Fiske Timberman|1988–1990||1690px)|Ernestine S. Heck LAST = STUART KENNEDY DATE = 11 DECEMBER 1997 PUBLISHER = THE ASSOCIATION FOR DIPLOMATIC STUDIES AND TRAINING FOREIGN AFFAIRS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT QUOTE =, |First female consul general of the Madras post|17||Timothy P. Hauser|1993–1996||1890px)|Michele J. Sison|1996–1999|Second female consul general of the Chennai post|19||Bernard J. Alter|1999–2002||20||Richard D. Haynes|August 2002 – April 2005NEWS |2290px)|Andrew T. Simkin|September 2008 – August 2011||2390px)|Jennifer A. McIntyre|3 August 2011 – 17 September 2014NEWS |2490px)|Phillip A. Min NEWSPAPER = BUSINESS LINE PUBLISHER = THE HINDU URL = HTTP://WWW.THEHINDUBUSINESSLINE.COM/NEWS/STATES/PHILLIP-MIN-TAKES-OVER-AS-US-CONSULGENERAL-IN-CHENNAI/ARTICLE6422616.ECE TITLE = PHILLIP MIN ASSUMES CHARGE AS US CONSUL GENERAL IN CHENNAI LOCATION = CHENNAI DATE = 18 SEPTEMBER 2014 ACCESS-DATE = 13 JAN 2015, ||2590px)|Robert G. Burgess|4 August 2017 – September 2020NEWS |2690px)|Judith Ravin|6 September 2020–July 2023NEWS |2790px)|Christopher W. Hodges|31 July 2023–PresentNEWS

The American Library

(File:LibrarylogoNov1209.jpg|thumb|Logo of the American Library)The American Center Chennai, formerly known as the American Cultural Center and the American Library, is located in the Consulate premises.WEB Presently, the library has a collection of over 15,000 books, 140 journals, U.S. Government publications, reports, newspapers and others, in addition to access to more than 10,000 full-texts of journals and 30,000 other electronic documents.WEB Since 11 April 2009, the library is open to public on Saturdays, after nearly a decade. On 31 May 2012, Consul General Jennifer McIntyre launched a new, bi-monthly e-newsletter at the American Library, which aimed to provide updates on new books, articles, and documentaries, as well as list additions to the library's electronic collection of books and articles.

Events

The American Center and the American Library together host several cultural events. The library also hosts Saturday Matinee, a popular event on Saturday mornings in which American movies are shown for the public and members of library inside the center.JOURNAL

Programs

In 2001, the Global AIDS Program (GAP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, opened its office in Chennai to prevent the HIV epidemic in India in partnership with National AIDS Control Program.WEB

Incidents

• In January 1998, a small bomb was detonated under the Gemini Flyover near the Consulate building.WEB

• In 2011, U.S. Vice-Consul Maureen Chao was criticised for her controversial remark on the complexion of the local people.NEWS

• On 14 September 2012, the Consulate was attacked by a group of protesters, when a protest by Islamic organisations against controversial American film Innocence of Muslims turned violent, following which the Consulate shut down its visa section for two days on 17 and 18 September.NEWS

• In November 2014, a terror plot allegedly by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to execute terror strikes in the Chennai Consulate General was foiled by the Indian authorities. The plot was code named "wedding hall" which was to be executed by two terrorists called "cooks" who were to gain entry into India from Maldives. The bomb devices that were to be planted at the Consulate General were code named "Spice".NEWS

• In December 2015, floods covered the city, including the consulate, which reportedly had up to 4 feet of water in the lower floors. Pictures on the walls of the consulate depict this event.{{cn|date=December 2019}}

See also

• List of diplomatic missions in Chennai
• India–United States relations
• List of diplomatic missions of the United States
• Foreign policy of the United States
• Foreign relations of India
• Embassy of the United States, New Delhi
• Consulate General of the United States, Hyderabad
• Consulate General of the United States, Mumbai
• Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• Muthiah, S. (Ed.). (2008). Madras, Chennai: A 400-year Record of the First City of Modern India (Volume 1). Chennai: Palaniappa Brothers. {{ISBN|978-81-8379-468-8}}.weblink

External links

• Official U.S. Consulate General Chennai website
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140223075402weblink">Official U.S. Commercial Service South India
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110531204433weblink">Catalog of library material available at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110204070709weblink">Official website of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce Tamil Nadu Branch

{{Diplomatic missions of the United States}}{{Diplomatic missions in India}}{{India–United States relations}}{{coord|13.052405|80.251932|display=title}}