State Department waiver of interviews in visa application process: What you need to know

Before the change, individuals applying for nonimmigrant visas had to be interviewed at a U.S. embassy or consulate. However, the operations of U.S. embassies and consulates were curtailed as a result of COVID-19, including their capacity to process visas. Applicants often waited months for interview appointments and, in some cases, the appointments were cancelled. Allowing waiver of the interviews has been a benefit to visa applicants and is believed to be significantly speeding the process. No embassy or consulate is required to waive the interview requirement but instead must decide, based on its needs and resources, whether to do so.

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