All Visa Appointments at the US Embassy in London Are Cancelled October 28

The US Embassy in London have cancelled all the visa appointments and visa processing today (October 28, 2015) due to a “local systems” malfunction. We first received reports this morning that the Embassy sent all applicants home and told them that there would be no appointments today. At the time Embassy staff said that they would either call or email applicants to reschedule the appointments, and the Embassy has now again confirmed on their Twitter feed that all applicants would be contacted by the Visa Appointment Service for appointment rescheduling. The Embassy’s Twitter feed also confirms that the technological systems failure was localized at the London Embassy (compared to the recent global shutdown) and that the Embassy is “confident systems will be fully operational tomorrow.”

All US Embassies and Consulates Will Be Closed on October 9

The State Department informed the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that due to a Department of State consular systems upgrade, consular operations at all US Embassies and Consulates will be closed to the public on Friday, October 9, 2015. Individuals who already have an appointment scheduled for October 9 will be contacted to reschedule. Application Service Centers (ASCs) connected to certain posts may also experience closures. Applicants should review individual consular websites for additional information in the coming week, and also should prepare for possible delays in visa issuance after this date.

Delays in Visa and Passport Issuance at US Embassies/Consulates Caused by Technical Problems

The Department of State (DOS) is currently experiencing technical problems with their overseas passport and visa systems. This appears to be a worldwide situation and not specific to any particular country, citizenship document, or visa category. Those affected by this technical problem should check the DOS website for any updates. Moreover, DOS has not provided a time frame for the resolution.

Nonimmigrant Visa Applicants
The systems in place to perform background security checks on each visa applicant are experiencing technical difficulties. US Embassies/Consulates are not able to bypass these security checks. As a result, nonimmigrant visa applicants filing nonimmigrant visa application Form DS-160 on or after June 9, 2015 will not be able to move forward with their visa application process until the technical issues are resolved. While DOS sincerely regrets these delays, they will only entertain expedite requests for “urgent humanitarian need.” In addition, we expect that even once the situation is resolved, we will see delays while the US Embassies/Consulates clear their backlogs.

Immigrant Visa Applicants
Some immigrant visa applicants continue to experience technical difficulties accessing Form DS-260. The DOS suggests that these issues are intermittent and that applicants return to the application website periodically to try to complete Form DS-260.

Passport Applicants
The technical difficulties are also causing delays in the printing of US passports that were approved at overseas passport facilities. Applications accepted by the Passport Unit at an Embassy abroad on or after May 26, 2015 are affected by this delay. Applicants who requested a US passport during this time frame and who have travel plans within the next ten business days should consider requesting an emergency passport at the US Embassy at which they originally applied.

UPDATE (June 18, 2015): The State Department reports that the Bureau of Consular Affairs continues to address the global technical problems with their visa systems. While there is no indication that the outage was related to a cyber security issue, the system is not expected to be online before next week at the earliest. Although passports are still being processed, visa applicants should expect lengthy delays and also that their appointments may be rescheduled. US Embassies/Consulate are prioritizing urgent medical and other humanitarian cases as well as H-2A agricultural workers. We will provide any additional updates as we receive them.

UPDATE (June 23, 2015): The State Department reports that as of yesterday twenty-two consular posts have been reconnected to their systems (which represents about half of the global nonimmigrant visa volume), and they are continuing to restore systems to full functionality. Though some progress has been made, biometric data processing has not been fully restored. As promised, the State Department has prioritized temporary and seasonal workers with nearly 1,250 visas issued in Mexico, and they have issued more than 3,000 visas globally for urgent and humanitarian travel. There is a large backlog of cases to clear, but many posts are conducting visa interviews and are able to print some visas and also have rescheduled visa appointments. Domestic passport operations are functioning albeit with some processing delays and the State Department continues to issue routine and expedited passports to US citizens for all overseas travel needs.

UPDATE (June 24, 2015): The State Department reports that thirty-nine consular posts, which represents more than two-thirds of their normal capacity, are now online and issuing visas.  Moreover, the State Department anticipates that the system will be fully reconnected this week, and personnel will work over the weekend to clear the backlog.

New Visa Appointment System at US Embassy in Paris

The US Embassy in Paris has officially announced that it will be transitioning to a new visa appointment system on July 31, 2014. This US Embassy will be the latest to join the dozens of other US Embassies and Consulates worldwide that have already contracted outside companies to handle the logistics of various aspects of the consular process, including appointment scheduling and passport delivery, through call centers (as discussed in my post on scheduling visa appointments in London, Protima’s post about changes in Germany, and my AILA Athens Report post).

Exciting features of the new appointment system will allow applicants to pay the Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee online by debit card or bank transfer, and for passports with visas and other documents to be returned to applicants by a courier service, able to be tracked online, at no cost to the applicant. No more trekking to La Poste to pay the MRV fee in-person by Mandat Compte or to purchase a pre-paid Chronopost envelope! These features promise to streamline the appointment process at the US Embassy in Paris once launched.

For the next nine days, until the new system launches, the US Embassy in Paris warns that “the new visa appointment system may cause some temporary delays[.]" After speaking to personnel on the visa appointment line this morning, we understand there is very limited availability for visa appointments between now and mid-August. Visa appointment dates for late August and September are not currently being offered, but will be made available at the time the new appointment system launches on July 31st. The US Embassy is encouraging applicants who do not have to travel by mid-August to wait until after July 31st to schedule their appointment, so they may use the new visa appointment system.

We are looking forward to using the new visa appointment system for the US Embassy in Paris; in particular, to the added efficiency it promises in the visa appointment process!