First-time tourist visa appointments suspended & other significant delays at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela

For the past several months, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has refused to issue visas for U.S. Embassy personnel, resulting in a severe staff shortage at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of State ("DOS") announced that due to limited staff, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas is forced to cease making appointments for certain visas and significantly limit the processing of others.

Until further notice, the Embassy in Caracas is no longer scheduling appointments for first-time business or tourist (B-1/B-2) visa applicants. For those who already paid the visa application fee prior to May 18, 2016, the Consulate will honor those paid fees for up to one year but will only be scheduling a limited number of appointments each day. Applicants should be prepared for the application process to take longer than expected. In addition, applicants applying for renewal of their U.S. visa or first-time applicants for any of the petition-based, student, or investor visas, a limited number of appointments for those visa types will be made available but wait times may be significant.

For immigrant-based visa applications, the Embassy has confirmed it will continue to schedule appointments as usual once the National Visa Center ("NVC") has notified them that cases are ready for an interview. For more information please visit:  http://caracas.usembassy.gov/news¬events/embassy¬news/new¬information¬niv¬visa-venezuela.html.