Today, Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar ( FL-27 ) and Congresswoman Susie Lee ( NV-03 ) presented the bipartisan Law on Reduction of Visitor Visa Waiting Time. This Bill addresses the extreme waiting times of years for visitor visa appointments ( nonimmigrant ) at the US Department of State. USA.
The Bill requires the State Department to describe specific steps to address this problem at each diplomatic post where the waiting time for a visitor visa appointment exceeds the 100 days.
To directly reduce waiting times, It also temporarily reassigns staff from other State Department offices to diplomatic positions where the waiting time for an appointment for a nonimmigrant visa exceeds 300 days.
"The current waiting times for nonimmigrant visas are totally unacceptable and the State Department must take steps to address this", representative Salazar said. "Many of my constituents are suffering from this delay, which prevents them from seeing their relatives and hurts our local businesses that depend on tourism ”.
“ While Las Vegas is recovering as the world capital of travel and tourism, unreasonably long waiting times for tourist visa processing continue to stifle our tourism economy and hamper our recovery ”, representative Lee said. “ These long waiting times not only hurt businesses, but also prevent families from visiting loved ones in the United States. Business travelers miss conventions and conferences, and families miss weddings, births, and graduations, all due to these delays. This bipartisan legislation is a common sense step to help eliminate the accumulation of tourist visas and revitalize our international travel and tourism industry in Las Vegas and throughout the country ”.
Additional co-sponsors of the Bill include representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks ( IA-02 ), David J. Trone ( MD-06 ), Carlos Gimenez ( FL-26 ), Susan Wild ( PA-07 ), Dina Titus ( NV-01 ), Tom Malinowski ( NJ-07 ), Steven Horsford ( NV-04 ), John B. Larson ( CT-01 ), Eric Swalwell ( CA-15 ), Ed Case ( HI-01 ), Annie Kuster ( NH-02 ), Raja Krishnamoorthi ( IL-08 ). Plaskett ( USVI ).
The legislation is supported by the US Travel Association. USA.
The text of the Bill can be found here.
Original source can be found here.
