December 2nd, 2022 at 07:20 am
To get a US immigrant visa, the first step in obtaining a green card or legal permanent residence, applicants must travel to a consular office for an in-person interview. This critical step is common practice in many nations. In others, applicants may have to travel a long distance to another consulate.
In others, the US does not process immigrant visas at all, forcing applicants to get authorization to go to a third nation for processing.
WHAT’S NEW? US IMMIGRANT VISA
This lack of processing is not a result of COVID-19 closures, but simply a policy choice on the part of the U.S. Department of State In 2022, the State Department is indefinitely offering no routine immigrant visa processing in 67 countries. It is imperative to note that about 720 million people from this countries are affected. The estimation is that, these affected citizens will travel for an average of 669 miles to access alternate consulates.
It almost certainly would have issued many more if not for this significant hurdle. You can find the list of the countries without an immigrant visa processing consulate. The list of countries is based on the list of nationalities that the United States recognizes for purposes of processing nonimmigrant (or temporary) visas.
Countries Without Routine US Immigrant Visa Processing
The table below shows the 67 countries without routine US Immigrant VISA.
Country | City | Processing Status | Alternate | Travel Miles | Population | Immig. Visas* |
All countries | 669 (mean) | 720,411,547 | 418,974 | |||
Afghanistan | Kabul | Closed since August 31, 2021 | Islamabad, Pakistan | 294 | 38,928,346 | 92,283 |
Iran | Tehran | Closed since November 4, 1979 | Yerevan, Armenia | 488 | 83,992,949 | 55,405 |
Yemen | Sanaa | Closed since Feb 2015 | Cairo, Egypt | 1380 | 29,825,964 | 45,617 |
Ukraine | Kyiv | Closed since Feb 28, 2022 | Frankfurt, Germany | 962 | 43,733,762 | 41,672 |
Russia | Moscow | Closed since Feb 28, 2022 | Warsaw, Poland | 715 | 145,934,462 | 34,605 |
Iraq | Baghdad | Closed since March 2020 | Ankara, Turkey | 783 | 40,222,493 | 25,960 |
Venezuela | Caracas | Closed since Mar 11, 2019 | Bogota, Colombia | 637 | 28,435,940 | 22,128 |
Syria | Damascus | Closed since Feb. 6, 2012 | Amman, Jordan | 109 | 17,500,658 | 17,365 |
Somalia | Mogadishu | Closed since 1991 | Nairobi, Kenya | 631 | 15,893,222 | 11,043 |
Belarus | Minsk | Closed since Feb 28, 2022 | Warsaw, Poland | 295 | 9,449,323 | 10,281 |
Eritrea | Asmara | Nonimmigrant-only | Nairobi, Kenya | 1158 | 3,546,421 | 7,159 |
Guinea | Conakry | Nonimmigrant-only | Dakar, Senegal | 438 | 13,132,795 | 7,148 |
Uganda | Kampala | Nonimmigrant-only | Nairobi, Kenya | 313 | 45,741,007 | 5,982 |
Azerbaijan | Baku | Nonimmigrant-only | Tbilisi, Georgia | 278 | 10,139,177 | 5,034 |
Gambia, the | Banjul | Nonimmigrant-only | Dakar, Senegal | 104 | 2,416,668 | 4,682 |
CONTINUED 2: Countries Without Routine US Immigrant Visa Processing
Tajikistan | Dushanbe | Nonimmigrant-only | Almaty, Kazakhstan | 535 | 9,537,645 | 4,546 |
Saint Lucia | Castries | No consulate | Bridgetown, Barbados | 111 | 183,627 | 3,103 |
Dominica | Roseau | No consulate | Bridgetown, Barbados | 193 | 71,986 | 3,032 |
Libya | Tripoli | Closed since Sept. 11, 2012 | Casablanca, Morocco | 1200 | 6,871,292 | 2,408 |
Grenada | Saint George’s | No consulate | Bridgetown, Barbados | 162 | 112,523 | 2,149 |
Mali | Bamako | Nonimmigrant-only | Dakar, Senegal | 650 | 20,250,833 | 1,993 |
Montenegro | Podgorica | Nonimmigrant-only | Belgrade, Serbia | 175 | 628,066 | 1,681 |
Antigua and Barbuda | Saint John’s | No consulate | Bridgetown, Barbados | 314 | 97,929 | 1,595 |
St. Vincent & Grenadines | Kingstown | No consulate | Bridgetown, Barbados | 109 | 110,940 | 1,583 |
Portugal | Lisbon | Nonimmigrant-only | Paris, France | 904 | 10,196,709 | 1,513 |
Saint Kitts & Nevis | Basseterre | No consulate | Bridgetown, Barbados | 356 | 53,199 | 1,429 |
Burundi | Bujumbura | Nonimmigrant-only | Nairobi, Kenya | 535 | 11,890,784 | 1,102 |
Tonga | Nuku’alofa | No consulate | Suva, Fiji | 462 | 105,695 | 932 |
Mauritania | Nouakchott | Nonimmigrant-only | Dakar, Senegal | 254 | 4,649,658 | 841 |
Denmark | Copenhagen | Nonimmigrant-only | Frankfurt, Germany | 417 | 5,792,202 | 791 |
South Sudan | Juba | Limited NIV | Nairobi, Kenya | 556 | 11,193,725 | 752 |
Norway | Oslo | Nonimmigrant-only | Stockholm, Sweden | 259 | 5,421,241 | 589 |
Chad | N’Djamena | Nonimmigrant-only | Yaoundé , Cameroon | 620 | 16,425,864 | 332 |
Samoa | Apia | Nonimmigrant-only | Auckland, New Zealand | 1795 | 198,414 | 329 |
Bhutan | Thimphu | No consulate | New Delhi, India | 760 | 771,608 | 250 |
CONTINUED 3: Countries Without Routine US Immigrant Visa Processing
Mauritius | Port Louis | Nonimmigrant-only | Johannesburg, South Africa | 1913 | 1,271,768 | 210 |
Central African Republic | Bangui | No visas | Yaoundé , Cameroon | 488 | 4,829,767 | 168 |
Guinea-Bissau | Bissau | Closed since June 14, 1998 | Dakar, Senegal | 232 | 1,968,001 | 162 |
Mozambique | Maputo | Nonimmigrant-only | Johannesburg, South Africa | 281 | 31,255,435 | 151 |
Namibia | Windhoek | Nonimmigrant-only | Johannesburg, South Africa | 734 | 2,540,905 | 124 |
Marshall Islands | Majuro | Nonimmigrant-only | Manila, Philippines | 3451 | 59,190 | 119 |
Botswana | Gaborone | Nonimmigrant-only | Johannesburg, South Africa | 229 | 2,351,627 | 117 |
Malta | Valletta | Nonimmigrant-only | Naples, Italy | 342 | 441,543 | 75 |
Lesotho | Maseru | Nonimmigrant-only | Johannesburg, South Africa | 218 | 2,142,249 | 66 |
Korea, North | Pyongyang | No consulate | Beijing, China | 503 | 25,778,816 | 65 |
Brunei | Bandar Seri Begawan | Nonimmigrant-only | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 918 | 437,479 | 55 |
Eswatini | Mbabane | Nonimmigrant-only | Johannesburg, South Africa | 192 | 1,160,164 | 49 |
Luxembourg | Luxembourg | Nonimmigrant-only | Brussels, Belgium | 116 | 625,978 | 46 |
Sao Tome & Principe | São Tomé | No consulate | Libreville, Gabon | 187 | 219,159 | 45 |
Equatorial Guinea | Malabo | Nonimmigrant-only | Yaoundé , Cameroon | 189 | 1,402,985 | 33 |
Seychelles | Victoria | No consulate | Johannesburg, South Africa | 2346 | 98,347 | 30 |
Monaco | Monaco | No consulate | Paris, France | 429 | 39,242 | 21 |
Comoros | Moroni | No consulate | Antananarivo, Madagascar | 575 | 869,601 | 18 |
Palau | Koror | Nonimmigrant-only | Manila, Philippines | 1524 | 18,094 | 18 |
CONTINUED 4: Countries Without Routine US Immigrant Visa Processing
Vanuatu | Port Vila | No consulate | Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea | 1527 | 307,145 | 16 |
Kiribati | Tarawa | No consulate | Suva, Fiji | 1396 | 119,449 | 15 |
Maldives | Malé | No consulate | Colombo, Sri Lanka | 476 | 540,544 | 15 |
Timor-Leste | Dili | Limited NIV | Jakarta, Indonesia | 1295 | 1,318,445 | 13 |
Micronesia | Kolonia | Nonimmigrant-only | Manila, Philippines | 2575 | 548,914 | 10 |
Solomon Islands | Honiara | No consulate | Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea | 869 | 686,884 | 9 |
Nauru | Yaren | No consulate | Suva, Fiji | 1446 | 10,824 | 3 |
Andorra | Andorra la Vella | No consulate | Madrid, Spain | 385 | 77,265 | 2 |
Liechtenstein | Vaduz | No consulate | Bern, Switzerland | 98.5 | 38,128 | 2 |
Tuvalu | Funafuti | No consulate | Suva, Fiji | 667 | 11,792 | 2 |
San Marino | San Marino | No consulate | Naples, Italy | 233 | 33,931 | 1 |
Macao | Macao | No consulate | Hong Kong, China | 16.1 | 649,335 | 0 |
State of Palestine | Ramallah | No consulate | Jerusalem, Israel | 47.6 | 5,101,414 | 0 |
Source: U.S. Department of State, “Visa Issuing Posts,” 2019, updated by: U.S. Department of State, “U.S. Visa: Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country,” 2022 (see country pages).
Note: Immigrant visas are for 2012 to 2021.