Expect long wait time for many of its services for foreseeable future

The United States Embassy (US) in Kingston has suspended routine visa interviews, given the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, the Embassy is advising persons doing business there “to expect extended wait times for many of our services for the foreseeable future”.

“Because of this, we caution people against paying visa fees for routine appointments that may be later than their planned travel dates.”

SERVICES AT LOWER LEVELS TO MITIGATE RISKS

Like many US embassies and consulates around the world, the embassy’s Kingston Consular Section is currently providing services, but at significantly lower levels to mitigate health risks. 

The Consular Section continues to provide emergency assistance to US citizens and is accepting limited appointments for citizenship services, including US passports.

The Consular Section provides US and Jamaican citizens a range of services from processing passports to visas. In giving an update yesterday (March 3) on its Consular Operations, the embassy said it, “understands the importance of our work and has strived to provide services over the past year, although at much reduced levels due to COVID-19”.

The Immigrant Visa unit is scheduling a limited number of in-person interviews each day, prioritising mission-critical cases and petitions for the spouses and children of US citizens. 

CASES THAT QUALIFY FOR INTERVIEW WAIVER NOW BEING PROCESSED

The Nonimmigrant Visa (NIV) unit, while suspending routine visa interviews, is however adjudicating mission-critical, dire life-and-death emergency and student visa cases. The unit is also processing cases that qualify for interview waiver, including renewals of full-validity tourist visas that have expired within the last 24 months.

In its update posted on its website, the US Embassy in Jamaica reports that, “we do not know at this time when we will be able to resume the full range of routine consular services”.

Said the Embassy: “The extended reduction in our public services due to COVID-19 along with the legally mandated suspension of processing for some visa categories have created a significant backlog of cases. As a result, there will likely be extended wait times for many consular services for the foreseeable future.”

The Embassy noted that, as it makes plans for work moving forward, it would first focus on continuing to assist U.S. citizens in emergency situations and with citizenship services. 

According to the US Embassy, “we understand the importance of reuniting families through the immigrant visa process and will devote significant resources to work through immigrant visa cases as quickly as possible.  Lastly, for nonimmigrant visas, we will prioritise mission-critical, dire life-and-death emergencies, temporary employment categories, student visas, and interview waiver cases”.

The embassy is encouraging non-immigrant visa applicants, who do not qualify for these priority categories to wait to schedule visa appointments until such time that it has resumed routine visa processing and an appointment can be scheduled that is well in advance of your planned travel.

The US Embassy says it has always taken pride in its ability to provide consular services in a courteous and efficient manner and looks forward anxiously to the time when circumstances allow it to return to providing the timely services that applicants rightly expect.