State Department Gives Embassies and Consulates Discretion in Prioritizing Visa Appointments

On November 19, 2021, the Department of State released new guidance that US embassies and consulates abroad will no longer be required to follow Covid-era visa processing priorities. The Covid-era guidance, put into place in November of 2020, laid out specific tiers of priorities that embassies and consulates were required to follow in terms of immigrant and nonimmigrant visa processing. The DOS’s new guidance, in line with President Biden’s October Proclamation On Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel, provides embassies and consulates discretion in prioritizing visa appointments (subject to local conditions and Covid regulations). Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, wait times for interviews have surged and consulates have amassed enormous backlogs. As of November, there were 461,125 green card applications pending interviews. This new guidance will allow consulates and embassies to use their discretion in working through a range of visa categories and confronting the massive backlogs.