Two ‐​Thirds of Consulates Fully or Partly Closed in July

David J. BierThe State Department remains a  major barrier to reopening the United States to legal travel and immigration. As of mid‐​July, two thirds of consulates remained fully or partially closed to anything other than emergency nonimmigrant visa appointments. About 44 percent are completely closed to non‐​emergency nonimmigrant visa appointments. The open consulates are reporting ever‐​growing wait times—in many cases, six months to a year.Consular officershave all received the opportunity to obtain COVID-19 vaccinessince May.More than 3.5 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide altogether this year. Moreover, all travelers to the United States mustreceive negative COVID-19 tests. Nonetheless, the State Department is keeping the doors closed to appointments, and it has refused to waive interviews in most cases or use virtual interviews. In fact, a  State Department representativeclaimed doing so would be illegal, despitea  statute directly authorizing in ‐​person interview waivers during “unusual or emergent circumstances” like a pandemic.As I  explained in May, the State Department does not publishany accessible public information on immigrant visa appointment availability by consulate, but it is anecdotally similar to nonimmigrant availability. The department fails to publish aggregate statistics on its reopening progress and only makes available information on nonimmigrant (i.e. temporary) visa availability inan online se...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs