While some US embassies or consulates can hold interviews for a US visa on the same day the application is submitted, others have to wait over one year.
According to the US Bureau of Consular Affairs, the waiting time for an interview can vary on the type of visa as well as the country where the consulate is located, VisaGuide.World reports.
Data show that the Ottawa consulate has the longest wait time for candidates for a Visitor (B1/B2) Visa, which means that foreigners living in Canada who want to visit the United States have to wait 2.5 years (913 days) for an interview.
Those applying for Crew and Transit Visas (C, D, C1/D) at the Halifax consulate in Canada also have to wait 2.4 years (887 days) while Perth, Australia, has the longest waiting time for Petition-Based Temporary Workers (H, L, O, P, Q) – 784 days or 2.1 years.
The US consulate located in Kathmandu, India has a long waiting time for Interviews related to Student/Exchange Visitors (F, M, J) Visas – set at 333 days or nine months.
US Consulates Located in Canada Stand Out for the Longest Waiting Times for Visa Interviews
The US consulate in Halifax, Canada, has the longest waiting time for interviews for two kinds of visas – 887 days for both Crew and Transit visas, as well as Visitor visas.
The list of consulates with the longest time to process Cews/Transit and Visitor visas includes the same consulates in the following order:
- Halifax
- Calgary
- Toronto
- Nuevo Laredo
- Abuja
- Lagos
- Brazzaville
- Malabo
- Lusaka
- Jerusalem
Consulates with the longest waiting time for Temporary Workers visas include the ones in Perth, Malabo, Lusaka, Cotonou, N’Djamena, Casablanca, Rangoon, Quebec, Paris and Addis Ababa.
List of US Consulates With Shortest Waiting Time for Visa Interviews
The US consulate in Dushanbe, Tajikistan and Managua, Peru, has the shortest waiting time for interviews, with candidates for each visa type having to wait only one day for the interview.
Applicants at the US consulates in Kuwait can also have their interview scheduled in one day, except for those applying for a Visitor visa, who have to wait two days.
The estimated wait time to receive an interview appointment at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate can change weekly and is based on actual incoming workload and staffing. These are estimates only and do not guarantee the availability of an appointment.
Furthermore, there are 21 US consulates that have been closed such as the one located in Adana (Türkiye), Yekaterinburg, St Petersburg and Vladivostok (Russia), Minsk (Belarus), Kyiv (Ukraine), Caracas (Venezuela), Chengdu (China), Damascus (Syria), Juba (South Sudan), Kabul (Afghanistan) and Khartoum (Sudan).
In addition, consulates in Lahore (Pakistan), Maseru (Lesotho), Marseille (France), Mexicali (Mexico), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Sanaa (Yemen), and Tripoli (Libya).