Drop in US visa wait times paves way for belated travel recovery

America’s travel industry has gone through a sluggish recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic—reaching just 84% of its pre-pandemic international arrivals by the close of 2023. That’s in stark contrast to global competitors such as France and Spain, which blew past 2019 visitation levels that same year. One the major culprits: significant visa processing delays at US embassies around the world. Now there’s hope for a major turnaround for the US travel and tourism sector. At a press conference on Oct. 29, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said they expect a faster rebound in inbound visitation to the US, citing a long-awaited reduction in wait times for visa appointments and processing, which will help the US take advantage of major sporting events taking place there in the next 10 years. In the 12 months up to Sept. 30, the US State Department issued a record 11.5 million visas, 8.5 million of which were visitor visas, said Blinken. The median wait time for first-time visitors to receive an appointment for a visa interview at a US consulate has dropped to 60 days from more than 400 days. Blinken added that the State Department plans to increase the number of visa appointments by 1 million (8.7%) in 2025. These shorter wait times are helping boost travel to the US, which is now expected to reach its pre-pandemic level of 79.4 million visitors next year, according to the Commerce Department. By 2026, the country will be on track to receive 90 million visitors—a benchmark the government did not anticipate reaching until 2027.