And as incredible as it may seem, the longest waiting time occurs in São Paulo. Anyone who makes their appointment this Tuesday (6), for example, will only get a date in 615 days, almost 20 months.
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Next, Porto Alegre (507 days), Brasília (493), Rio de Janeiro (478) and Recife (449) appear. According to the AG Immigration office, only the capital of Rio has had a longer queue. The numbers for all others represent records.
In the world, only six countries register greater slowness: Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Nepal, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
In Brazil, tourist and business visas account for more than 90% of all requests. In the case of issuing visas for study or work, the process is generally faster.
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How does obtaining a US visa work?
The first steps to obtaining a US visa are to fill out a form online and pay a fee of US$160. You must then schedule an interview at the embassy in Brasília or at the four consulates, located in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Porto Alegre.
The tourist visa is valid for ten years and can be used on different visits to the USA within this period. The length of stay for each trip, however, is defined by the immigration team that receives the passenger after disembarkation, and is generally less than six months. With a tourist visa, you are not allowed to work or study in the country. Only low workload courses are permitted.
As a result of the covid-19 pandemic, the issuance of visas between May 2020 and November 2021 was restricted. Attendances prioritized people in an emergency situation, such as those who go to family funerals or for medical treatment, in addition to student visas. Since requests were generally reviewed again, demand has been increasing.
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What does the US embassy say?
In a note, the US embassy recognizes the problem:
“The waiting time to apply for a tourist visa for the first time is longer than we would like, still due to the demand generated by the Covid-19 pandemic. We are working to increase appointment availability. We hired new employees, we are working overtime and we have extended the period for visa renewal with exemption from interviews from 12 to 48 months. Brazil was the second largest visa processing country in the world in 2022. We currently interview on average more than 6 thousand visa applications per day and, in 2023, we project to exceed 1 million processed visas. We recommend that people plan their trips in advance and that each applicant checks our website whether you are eligible for visa renewal without the need for an interview, which is a much faster process”.
Record growth in US visa applications
At the same time that the waiting time is increasing, the AG Immigration survey registers the record growth in the issuance of visas. 106 deliveries were made in Brazil during the month of March, the highest volume ever registered by the office. In April, there were 85 thousand. Despite the drop of approximately 20% compared to the previous month, it is the second highest volume in the historical series.
According to AG Immigration, the situation reveals strong desire of Brazilians to visit the USA and it is a challenge for the embassy, considering that the delay affects tourist exchange. The impact would be felt directly in destinations such as Florida, which has Brazil as one of the three countries that send the most travelers.
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About six months ago, the US Travel Association, which represents more than XNUMX organizations and companies in the US travel industry, launched the USVisaDelays portal to gather stories from foreign travelers and U.S. businesspeople about the personal cost of wait times. One of the reports is from Brazilian Flávia Pereira.
“We are trying to get a tourist visa. We started the process in May 2022 and only got an interview at the consulate in São Paulo in March 2024 because there are four of us. We want to take our two children to Disneyworld,” he said.
(Source: Agência Brasil)
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