Immigrant Visa Interview Backlog

Covid has affected every aspect of immigration, but none more so than timelines and backlogs.

When an immigrant petition is approved, the National Visa Center will review the immigrant visa application and supporting documents (such as an affidavit of support) to determine if the case has all the documents needed to qualify for the immigrant visa. If yes, the case is considered "documentarily complete" and the case is moved from the National Visa Center to the consulate for an interview.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, on average in 2019, each month 60,866 applicants were pending the scheduling of an interview. As of December 31, 2021, there was a significant backlog of applicants: 465,978 applicants had cases which were documentarily complete and ready for an interview.

In January 2022, only 26,605 applicants were schedule for an interview. This means that 439,373 applicants were still pending the scheduling of an interview after January 2022 appointment scheduling was completed.

What does this mean in practice? There are going to be extensive wait times for a visa appointment, depending on which consulate the applicant is going to. Some that have kept up operations and do not have a significant backlog, will have normal processing times. Others, however, will have long waits for a visa interview.

To learn more about the current backlog, visit https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/visas-backlog.html. This page also has previous backlog reports.