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VISA DELAYS AND UNPRECEDENTED WAIT TIMES CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR WORKERS, EMPLOYERS


Reports indicate that visa delays, backlogs, and longer wait times at U.S. embassies and consular offices have caused disruptions for workers and companies. Wait times have risen to unprecedented levels. These delays directly affect companies employing workers in temporary statuses who must renew their visas at consulate offices outside of the U.S.

Many executives and managers holding critical positions at certain companies are stalled from completing their duties for prolonged periods of time. For example, excluding student and visitor visas,

  • wait times for visas in Istanbul, Turkey, exceed 16 months;

  • wait times are about nine months for the thousands of highly skilled temporary workers using H-1B and L-1 visas in New Delhi, India;

  • business visa processing can take up to three years in Chile

The cause of these delays is attributed to the COVID–19 pandemic, internal embassy and consulate staffing issues, and the two-year shutdown of processing guestworker visas by the Trump administration. The Department of State (DOS) says it has increased its consular staff this fiscal year and has resumed full visa services in nearly all U.S. embassies and consulates.

Source: “Visa Bottlenecks Are Creating Headaches for Employers, Workers,” Daily Labor Report, Bloomberg Law, Aug. 16, 2022, Link.

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