The Biden administration has reduced wait times worldwide for nonimmigrant visa interviews, an official said Thursday.
During a briefing with reporters, Julie Stufft, deputy assistant secretary for visa services at the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, said that the agency had doubled its hiring of U.S. foreign service personnel who process visa applications, and that the processing was rebounding faster than projected.
“Our embassies and consulates are again open for routine consular services, including visitor visa interviews,” Stufft said. “We’ve seen a tremendous drop in wait times today. We have a median global wait time of seven weeks for visitor visa interviews and only seven days for students and temporary workers. That’s down significantly from just a few months ago.”
Nonimmigrant visas are issued to foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States temporarily for business, medical treatment, tourism or temporary work.
Stufft told reporters that local pandemic-era restrictions had curbed the agency’s ability to see visa applicants, because in most cases, the applicant is required by U.S. law to appear in person.
The applications that built up over the past two years have combined with regular seasonal demand, resulting in extended wait times for U.S. visa interview appointments, Stufft said.
“This fiscal year [2023] we anticipate getting back to pre-pandemic processing numbers. And with that, we will focus on decreasing the tremendously pent-up demand of a few locations,” she said.
According to the State Department, most countries have lifted restrictions, and 96% of U.S. embassies and consulates can provide routine visa services.
Progress disputed
But David Bier, associate director of immigration policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, who follows the issue closely, disagreed.
“They haven’t returned to pre-pandemic, nonimmigrant visa processing,” Bier said, nearly two years into the Biden administration. During…