Government delays to processing non-immigrant visas do not appear to be delaying many Duke faculty and students.
Late last month, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced that its Bureau of Consular Affairs was experiencing technical problems with their passport and visa system. While still operational, its capacity to issue documents for travel to the U.S. has been significantly reduced, and many applicants for visas are experiencing delays.
Lois Yelverton, Duke’s director of the Visa Services Office, reports that incoming students and scholars for the fall, as of this point, have largely been spared.
“Even with the Consular Consolidated Database performing poorly, the current number of delays for Duke students and faculty reported to our office are about normal for this time of year,” she says. “I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Yelverton’s office has notified those schools and departments that will be impacted by the delays.
According to the State Department, they issued more than 220,000 non-immigrant visas during the last week of July. Based on average production figures, DOS said it “would have anticipated issuing closer to 425,000 non-immigrant visas in that time period, indicating we have been able to print nonimmigrant visas for about half of all approved travelers. It will take some weeks before we are back to normal turnaround times on issued visas."
In an updated report, DOS indicated “visa applicants are advised they might still experience delays up to one week in addition to normal processing times.”
More information is available at http://www.visaservices.duke.edu/NewsFlash.html.