Travelers who need a visa to travel to the United States or to stay there for more than three months are not at the end of their struggle: American embassies are still unable to reach them, several months after the end of travel restrictions and the reopening of the country’s borders (last November), to deal with requests for appointments within bearable deadlines.
“Travelers from Guadalajara, Mexico must wait 702 days before getting an appointment. In São Paulo, Brazil, the lead time is 354 days. In Bogota, Colombia, it takes 643 days… ”, according Bloomberg. In Paris, the Department of State says people who are not eligible for the Electronic Travel Authorization (ESTA) program must currently wait 225 days before being received for the visitor visa interview.
The backlog in processing applications is due both to the consequences of the health crisis and to the measures taken against visitors from certain countries by the Trump administration. “The Department of State is also struggling to make up for staff departures over the past several years.”
The tourism sector at the forefront
A situation which compromises the recovery in the tourism sector, but also business travel, and which handicaps companies. In the Miami region, for example, foreign visitors usually represent half of business trips and tourist stays. Two-thirds of these visitors come from South American countries – but, with the exception of Chilean nationals, they do not benefit from the visa exemption, underlines Bloomberg.
“Before the pandemic, you could get an appointment within a week, explains Theda Fisher, an immigration lawyer. Today we are seeing delays of five, six, seven months…” Operators in the tourism sector – which are also short of manpower – are calling on the administration to urgently extend visa exemptions, introduce the practice of virtual interviews as well as facilitate visa renewals.