Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: THE new Chancery premises of the Consulate General of India in Seattle, was officially inaugurated by Ambassador of India to the United States, Vinay Kwatra.
Governor of Washington State Bob Ferguson, US Senator Maria Cantwell and Mayor of Seattle Bruce Harrell were present.
Addressing an audience of several elected leaders and prominent Indian American community leaders, Governor Ferguson welcomed the opening of the new Indian consulate as a “landmark development”, especially in deepening bilateral ties between India and the US Pacific Northwest region.
The announcement for commencement of the sixth Indian Consulate in the US was made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2023 and within five months it commenced its operations from a temporary location in Seattle in November 2023.
Following initiation of its consular operations in July 2024, the Consulate has provided consular services to a total of nearly 23,722 applicants from its consular jurisdiction area of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska. The inaugural ceremony was also followed by a brief interaction of the Ambassador of India with representatives of the Indian American community. The new Chancery premises of the Indian Consulate are located in the heart of downtown Seattle at the prestigious Federal Reserve Building, and spread over two floors.
While the first floor houses the Consular section and is open for visitors of consular services and public dealing, the 11th floor houses Administrative and Commercial wings. The location had earlier served as the Seattle branch of Federal Bank of San Francisco from 1951 to 2008 and has been listed in the US Federal Government’s National Register of Historic Places since 2013.
