September 1st, 2023 at 06:04 am
US Increase Visa Timelines – US Visa Update
According to a State Department official, increased demand is to blame for longer wait periods for US visas. Wait periods just reflect the exceptionally high level of demand for a US visa and do not indicate that people are not receiving visas.
As of August 11, there are no longer any lengthy waits for overseas travelers to obtain visas. Still, the same problems continue to affect nations like Mexico and India. In comparison to the same period in 2019, American authorities issued 19.4% more non-immigrant visas in the first nine months of this year.
For the first time in almost a decade, the US government awarded more than one million non-immigrant visas in a single month in March 2023. This year, they anticipate processing visas at pre-pandemic levels or higher.
New Wait Times
Since the start of this year, India’s first-time visitor visa interview wait times have decreased by a total of 70%, and the US has issued 46% more non-immigrant visas than it did during the same period last year. While there have been 21 percent more visas issued in Mexico at the same time, the tourism sector would like to see action made to accommodate the demand without urgent Department of State Focus
The potential to completely restore America’s inbound travel sector will be delayed as the US falls farther behind in the race for global travelers. Wait times in Mexico increased from 701 registered users to 726 users as of early July. Wait times in India were 484 days at the same period, up from 410 days the previous month.
In contrast, Brazil saw a reduction in visa wait periods to an average of 147 days. The Organization is dismayed by The Surge in wait times in India and Mexico they remain relatively high in other nations, despite there being more than 500 registered in June.
Depending on the reason for their trip, people can apply for various US visa kinds. The non-immigrant and immigrant visas are the two main types of US visas.
US Visa Waiver Program 2023: Visit US Without Visa
The Biden administration has been urged by 65 US senators to complete work on the Visa Waiver Program by September 30 to allow Israeli nationals to enter the country without a visa.
Israeli citizens must request permission to visit the US. The Senators have written to Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State, and Alejandro Majokcas, the Secretary of Security, requesting them to include Israel in the Visa Waiver Program, citing the last hurdle preventing Israel’s inclusion.
Profiling of Arab Americans attempting to enter Israel as they work to meet the September deadline. The letter, which also has the backing of Tom Nides, the current US ambassador to Israel, seeks to complete Israel’s enrollment in the visa program.
The Middle Eastern nation satisfied two of the criteria for enrollment in the program, including the requirement that no more than 3% of visas be refused. The Israeli government has enacted laws and implemented policies that allow member countries to share intelligence.
The need that the waiver to be available to all citizens, regardless of ancestry or religion, remains a barrier to the program’s reciprocity. The State Department has noted that over the years, some US citizens of Arab or Muslim descent have encountered difficulty and discriminatory treatment at Israel’s border and checkpoints and that Israel requires special permissions for Americans carrying Palestinian identity documents.
Latest Appeal
A handful of Democrats have joined Arab Americans and other organizations. They, however, call for complete reciprocity as a prerequisite for Israel’s admission to the visa waiver program.
14 Senate Democrats urged the Biden administration not to give down on the blue-is-blue rule. This delivered through a letter to Blinken and Mayorkas last month. Everyone traveling to or from the United States with a blue passport receives equal treatment. 39 Republicans and 26 Democrats co-wrote the new letter.
2023 Visa Bulletin Changes
The September 2023 Visa Bulletin published by the US Department of State (DOS). In the most recent Visa Bulletin, several categories go backward, although at least some of the backlogs ought to start shrinking in October when the new fiscal year starts.
August 2023 Visa Bulletin Summary
Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1) Category
China, which continues to use a deadline of February 1, 2022, is the only nation in the EB1 category that has not retrogressed. The cut-off date for EB1 India has been advanced by more than ten years to January 1, 2012.
The EB1 category will no longer apply to any other nations as of August 1, 2023. All nations excluding China and India would likely fall under the EB1 category once more in October. The deadline for EB1 India is also anticipated to improve in the October 2023 Visa Bulletin, at least to a deadline of February 1, 2022.
Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB2) Category
The deadline for EB2 India is still January 1, 2011. The deadline also moved to July 8, 2019, for China. ED2 is now set to begin on April 1, 2022, for all other countries of changeability.
Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3) Category
The deadline for EB3 India remains January 1, 2009, and it does not change. The deadline for EB3 China moved up to June 1, 2019. The EB-3 cutoff date advances to May 1, 2020, for all other nations of changeability.
EB3 Other Workers
The deadlines for EB3 other workers, except China, are the same for each nation as their respective EB3 deadlines. The deadline for China’s EB3 other workers category is still September 1, 2015.
Employment-Based, Fourth Preference (EB4) Category
The EB4 category remains unchanged, with all nations maintaining a September 1, 2018, deadline.
Employment-Based, Fifth Preference (EB5) Category
The EB5 category has not changed. The deadline for India’s EB5 unreserved application remains April 1, 2017. The deadline for China’s EB5 unreserved remains September 8, 2015. For all other EB5 categories and changeable countries, the EB5 stays in effect.
Family-Based, Second Preference
In August, the FB2A category—reserved for spouses and children of residents with legal status—regresses even more. The FB2a cut-off date for Mexico is September 1, 2016, and the cut-off date for all other nations with changeability is October 8, 2017.
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