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The US Travel Association joined a bipartisan group of 44 mayors and officials representing US cities and counties to send a letter to the government calling for reduced wait times for visitor visa interviews.
The group’s joint letter to Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken said visitor visa interview times would “exceed 400 days for travelers from major international inbound markets”.
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Among the letters were the mayors of New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Dallas, Las Vegas, Charlotte, San Francisco, Seattle, Nashville, New Orleans and Orlando. The Los Angeles City Council has passed a resolution recommending federal policy changes to reduce visitor visa interview wait times.
“Due to the high impact of the pandemic, severe backlogs in the US visitor visa process are now delaying — in some cases by more than a year — the visits of foreign travelers from key markets that offer vital economic and diplomatic benefits.” The nation,” the letter says.
The mayors offered four recommendations to speed up the visitor visa process; These include setting clear timelines to restore a streamlined process, reinstating the executive order to schedule interviews for 80 percent of nonimmigrant applicants within 21 days, increasing consular staffing, and extending interview waivers. They are considered low risk until 2024.
The letter said visa processing delays are detrimental to the recovery of the inbound travel sector and the broader US economy. The group added that federal attention to this issue is good for the U.S. economy and workforce and for our public diplomacy.
“As millions of travelers from around the world visit the United States safely, they return home with countless stories that only America can provide,” the letter continued.
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