It is given that the applications are scheduled for processing in twenty 15 -minute slots starting at 9:00 am and ending at 2:00 pm. Ten applications are scheduled in each slot.
Hence, the total number of applicants
. It is also known that
of the applications were US applications, and the number of US applications was the same in all the slots. The same was true for the other three categories.
Hence, the number of total number of US applicants
, and the number of US applicants in each slot
It is also known that Ira, Vijay, and Nandini were scheduled for Schengen visa processing in that order. They had a 9:15 am slot. Since the number of Schengen applicants was the same in all the slots, it implies the number of Schengen applicants in each slot is at least 3.
Similarly, it is given that Mahira and Osman were scheduled in the 9:30 am slot on that day for visa processing in the Others category, which implies the number of other category applicants in each slot is at least 2 . Since the number of total applicants in each slot is 10 , this implies the number of Schengen and other applicants in each slot is 3 , and 2, respectively. Hence, the number of UK applicants is 0 in each slot.
It is also known that the number of total counters is 10 , among which four are dedicated to US applications, and two each for UK applications, Schengen applications, and Others applications. It is given that each US and UK application requires 10 minutes of processing time, and Vijay was called to a counter at 9:25 am. (Who is 5 th in the queue). It can only be possible when the processing time of Schengen applications is 12.5 minutes.
On a particular day, Ira, Vijay, and Nandini were scheduled for Schengen visa processing in that order. They had a 9:15 am slot but entered the VPO at 9:20 am. When they entered the office, exactly six out of the ten counters were either processing applications, or had finished processing one and ready to start processing the next. Hence, at 9.20 am, there are exactly four free counters. Out of these 4,2 is the UK counter, and the other two are other counters. (Since the US counters and Schengen Counters were either processing applications, or had finished processing one and were ready to start processing the next.)
For the other applicants, the time taken to process one application is at most 5 minutes, which implies the total time taken to process 40 applications is at most
minutes.