The U.S. Congress has designated $50 million to the State Department aimed at ameliorating passport backlogs and reducing visa wait times, as part of legislation endorsed by U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday. This move, hailed by the travel industry, seeks to address a long-standing concern impacting both travelers and the economy.
The U.S. Travel Association commended the enactment of the bill on Wednesday, recognizing it as a pivotal step within a larger allocation package intended to fund select federal agencies until September. Notably, the association highlighted that the average wait time for first-time visitor visas from the United States’ principal inbound markets currently stands at approximately 400 days.
The legislation grants the State Department a degree of flexibility, lacking specificity in terms of earmarking funds for particular visa categories, such as those related to business, leisure, or education. Moreover, it refrains from specifying any particular country for prioritized reduction of visa wait times.
Tori Emerson Barnes, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy for U.S. Travel, emphasized the urgency of deploying these allocated resources promptly to mitigate wait times and stimulate growth in inbound visitation.
According to Julie Stufft, the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services, long visa wait times are anticipated to persist in Colombia, Mexico, and India throughout the current year due to heightened demand for travel to the United States.
The pressure to reduce visa wait times has been mounting within the travel industry, particularly with the forthcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup slated to be hosted in the United States. Over 300 travel industry professionals recently engaged in lobbying efforts directed at federal lawmakers to address this issue.
During the Skift India Summit, U.S. Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti disclosed that President Biden had specifically tasked him with tackling the visa backlog.
In recent years, visa wait times have extended to several hundred days in embassies located in Brazil, Mexico, India, and Colombia, which represent significant inbound markets for the United States. The economic toll of prolonged wait times was underscored by U.S. Travel, which estimated a loss of $12 billion in travel spending in 2023 alone.
To alleviate the backlog, the State Department has implemented various measures, including exempting low-risk visa applicants from interviews, reallocating staff to countries with substantial backlogs, and augmenting processing personnel. Some embassies, notably in Brazil and India, have witnessed considerable reductions in wait times. Notably, the federal agency issued a record 1.4 million visas in 2023.
Persisting long wait times for visas pose the risk of diverting travelers to alternative destinations, as highlighted by U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman during the Skift Global Forum in September.
