After a challenging year of recovering from the effects of unexpected delays and closures in 2020, with the effects of these roadblocks impacting wait times well into 2021, US embassy and consulate wait times are falling fast in 2023.1
From March 2021 to February 2022, over 60% of US embassies and consulates were experiencing longer wait times compared to 2021, due to closures or appointment delays, with students anxiously waiting to begin their study abroad journey. Looking ahead into 2023, we’re excited to see that some students are waiting less than two weeks for an appointment, showing promising progress from previous years.
Today, we’ll be taking a look at how US student visa appointment wait times have progressed from 2022 into 2023, and see which student populations are experiencing the shortest wait times.
Key Insights at a Glance
- The average wait time for all US embassies and consulates dropped from 40 days in January 2022 to 25 days at the start of 2023.2
- In January 2023, over 71% of embassies had a wait time of less than 4 weeks compared to 54% from the same time last year.
- Some countries, such as China, Japan, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, had wait times well below the US average, with Saudi Arabian students waiting less than 2 days.
It is worth noting that, for students to apply for a US student visa, most applicants are required to attend an interview at their local US embassy or consulate. Wait times for interviews depend on multiple factors, including the time required for administrative processing. As a result, processing wait times do not include the time required for administrative processing or courier service times for passport deliveries.
Students looking to plan ahead can learn more about the US student visa application process and requirements for the visa interview by reviewing the US Department of State’s student visa guidelines.
Let’s start by looking at how policy updates have impacted US embassy wait times over the past three years.
Policy Changes Impacting Reduced Wait Times
There are a number of factors that contribute to the reduction of student visa appointment wait times. Over the past two years, the US Department of State has taken several steps to improve student visa appointment wait times to exceed pre-pandemic levels, including extending weekday operating hours for select embassies and consulates, scheduling special weekend interviews for first time applicants and increasing consular staff. These changes are just a few components of a multi-pronged initiative to address the backlog of student visa wait times impacted by the pandemic.
Following embassy closures in 2020, the Biden administration announced in December 2021 that embassies and consulates would have the ability to waive in-person interviews for some student visa applications through December 2022 on a case-by-case basis. This allowed students to submit their applications to embassies remotely following the height of interview delays during the pandemic and led to a reduction in wait times for thousands of students.
The US Department of State announced an extension to the waiver of in-person interviews to December 21, 2023, allowing more students to apply remotely. This policy extension change was enacted as a measure to help lower visa wait times across the world, and open the door for more students to pursue an education at US institutions.
Average Wait Times are Dropping Significantly into 2023
As a result of the flexibility that increased government efforts to reduce wait times have afforded students across the world, embassy wait times have been falling swiftly. Since mid-2022, many countries have been experiencing significantly lower wait times, declining significantly into 2023.
Let’s see how average wait times for all US embassies have shifted in the past year:
With more activity in the international education market following travel mandates and embassy closures, the average wait time for all US embassies has dropped from 40 days in January 2022 to 25 days at the start of 2023. The last time the US average was this low was in April 2021, signaling a strong improvement for US international education into 2023.
It’s worth noting that student visa wait times are impacted by the demand of applications, with fewer applications at the start of the year and more in the summer. Over the past year, the US average wait time was at a high of 49.5 days (or 7 weeks) in June 2022, and has continued to fall since, with a 49% decrease in average wait times in just 7 months.
Although these wait times may be new to some student populations who are experiencing higher wait times, the reduction in the US average wait time is a step in the right direction. Let’s take a closer look at how many students are experiencing higher wait times than the overall average.
More Students are Waiting Less Than 4 Weeks for an Interview
Despite an overall decrease in US student visa appointment wait times, many students were still waiting months on end for an interview at their local US embassy in 2022 and into 2023.
The chart below compares embassy wait times in January 2022 and January 2023, showing promising progress in one year:
Nearly 1 in 5 US embassies were closed or only accepting emergency appointments in January 2022. We’re excited to see that the number of closures has dropped since, with 1 in 10 embassy closures in early 2023.
In January 2023, over 71% of embassies had a wait time of less than 4 weeks compared to 54% from the same time last year. Although these wait times do not include estimated administrative processing times, it’s evident that wait times are settling to be more promising for international students looking to study in the US.
It’s important to note, that in January 2023, less than 17% of all embassies had wait times exceeding 4 weeks. This was a strong improvement from last year, where nearly 1 in 4 US embassies experienced wait times exceeding 4 weeks.
Despite the progress that has been made to improve US embassy wait items across the world, many countries continue to experience wait times that exceed the national average. Let’s take a closer look at some of the top US student markets to see how their wait times have improved over the past year.
Which Countries Have the Highest Average Wait Times in 2023?
As embassies are opening up following the pandemic, international students in most countries are seeing an improvement in US student visa wait times.
The chart below shows the change in average wait times for prospective students in some of the largest US student markets:
In 2023, some countries, including China, Japan and Brazil, experienced wait times well below the US average, with Saudi Arabian students waiting less than 2 days in 2023.
For other student populations, wait times remain high, with some countries still experiencing wait times that have improved slightly, but are still above the US average. India and Nigeria are both growing student populations in the US. Both countries are experiencing long student visa appointment times at their local embassies, despite an improvement of 2-3 weeks over the same time last year.
India has five US embassies and consulates in the country, with one in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chennai. Each of these US embassies experienced an average wait time of nearly 3 months in 2023. In comparison, Nigeria’s embassy in Lagos currently has a wait time of over 7 months.
Meanwhile, some of the US’s top student populations experienced wait times well below the US average. For example, wait times in some countries like South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan remain well below 30 days, with wait times for these countries getting better by the week.
Let’s take a closer look at the wait times in select student populations that are experiencing higher than average wait times:
Bangladesh, Nepal, and Nigeria are experiencing student visa wait times at US Embassies and Consulates wait times that remain well behind the US average. Each of these countries has a strong international student population in the US, despite their struggles with longer than average US embassy wait times. Let’s see how long these student populations are waiting for a US student visa appointment.
With over 10,500 international students studying in the US in the 2021/22 academic year, Bangladesh remains a strong student market for US international education. Bangladeshi students are experiencing drastically higher student visa appointment wait times in 2023 compared to 2022. In January of 2023, wait times for Bangladeshi students reached a high of 169 days. In comparison, wait times were at a low of 41 days at the same time last year. Despite this still being an improvement from the one year high wait time of 637 days in April 2022, we are hoping to see wait times fall further to allow more Bangladeshi students to study in the US.
Nepali students are increasing their foothold in the US international education market, with over 11,700 international students studying in the US in the 2021/22 academic year. Despite this, Nepali students are experiencing an average wait time of 316 days in 2023. The US embassy in Nepal experienced a brief closure in January and February 2022, and reopened in March with a 78 days waiting period. Since October 2022, wait times have been steadily on the rise and remain high into 2023.
As one of the largest student populations in US international education, Nigerian students experienced the longest wait times of any student market in the US. With 14,400 international students in the US in 2021/22, Nigerian embassies experienced wait times as high as 415 days in 2023. Nigerian wait times showed little improvement from 2022, despite their stronghold in US international education.
Looking Forward
Extended interview wait times and embassy closures posed a challenge for many international students looking to begin their study abroad journey in the US. Despite the US government’s efforts to remove these barriers by waiving in-person interviews in 2022, the effects of US embassy closures and administrative delays continued to impact US wait times into 2022.
We’re excited to see that wait items have been dropping significantly in 2022 and well into 2023. However, despite this decline, many student markets are still experiencing higher than average wait times, with some countries still waiting as long as 10 months for a visa appointment.
With the US Department of State’s welcomed announcement highlighting several measures to reduce wait times for student visa applicants, we look forward to seeing continued improvement in the reduction of US embassy wait times in upcoming months.
Stay tuned for our upcoming ApplyInsights, where we’ll be covering new data from the 2022 Open Doors Report on International Education Exchange!
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FOOTNOTES:
1. All data courtesy of the US Department of State, except where noted.
2. Wait times per country are calculated as the average of the average interview wait time across all embassies for that country. They are not a definitive representation of the average wait time for each applicant in that country. For example, on January 10, 2022, embassy wait times in the UK were 4 days in London and 28 days in Belfast. The wait time for the country is thus expressed as 16 days, despite the fact that London processes considerably more students than Belfast.
