Immigration Update: Technical Issues Continue to Impact U.S. Visa Processing Worldwide

U.S. Department of State (DOS) continues to address the technical problems with their visa systems. As announced on June 12, 2015, the issue impacts U.S. Consulates worldwide and is not specific to any particular country or visa category. It is anticipated the system will not be online before next week.

Many Consulates have announced via their websites that they are currently unable to print most nonimmigrant visas approved after June 8, 2015. They are also unable to process most new applications submitted on or after June 9, 2015. Applicants are advised to monitor their respective Consulate’s visa appointment system or website for the latest information.

The technical problems stem from a hardware failure on June 9 that halted the flow of biometric clearance requests from posts to the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). These systems are in place to perform required national security checks and Consulates cannot bypass the legal requirements necessary to screen visa applicants. Therefore Consulates are unable to print visas (nonimmigrant and immigrant) and as a result, there is a backlog of visas waiting to be processed.

Please contact an MVA team member if you have any questions about these visa processing delays.