US visa wait for Indians hits 346 days: Why are queues so long?

Indian applicants faced a weighted average wait of 346 days to obtain a US visitor visa interview in fiscal year 2025, more than eight times the 42-day average recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a US Government Accountability Office report.

The GAO report, released on Monday, found that long waits were linked in part to consular staffing levels not keeping pace with demand. India had 68 consular officers working on nonimmigrant visas in FY2025 while handling 1,455,255 applications, equivalent to 21,401 applications per officer.

The 346-day figure refers to the weighted average time to obtain an interview for a visitor visa. It does not mean that every applicant waited 346 days, nor does it represent the time taken to receive a final visa decision.

US visas · GAO report

Indians wait 346 days for a US visa interview

A US government audit finds consular officers in India carry one of the heaviest workloads anywhere, and Indian applicants wait nearly a year for an interview.

346

days: India’s average wait, FY 2025

21,401

applications per officer in India

68

officers for 1.46 million applications

7th

longest visitor-visa wait worldwide

Longest waitsToo few officersThen and now

Top 10 countries with the longest waits for a visitor-visa interview

Average wait in days, FY 2025

1. 1. Colombia​597
2. 2. Turkey​489
3. 3. Canada*​475
4. 4. Honduras​447
5. 5. Peru​373
6. 6. Costa Rica​356
7. 7. India​346
8. 8. United Arab Emirates​317
9. 9. Bangladesh​297
10. 10. Uganda​293

*GAO attaches a footnote to Canada’s figure; see the report. US fiscal year 2025 ran from October 2024 to September 2025.

Same demand, fewer hands

Non-immigrant visa (NIV) workload by consular officers, FY 2025

• Brazil 1,141,235applications 87consular officers on NIVs 13,118applications per officer ​ 32 daysaverage interview wait ​
• China 1,206,011applications 119consular officers on NIVs 10,135applications per officer ​ 34 daysaverage interview wait ​
• India 1,455,255applications 68consular officers on NIVs 21,401applications per officer ​ 346 daysaverage interview wait ​
• Mexico 2,658,627applications 124consular officers on NIVs 21,441applications per officer ​ 283 daysaverage interview wait ​

India had more applications than China but 51 fewer officers. Each officer in India handled about twice the load of one in China.

Mexico’s per-officer load was almost the same as India’s, but its average wait was 63 days shorter.

Blue bars compare applications per officer; red bars compare wait times. Wait is the weighted average time to obtain an interview.

Visitor-visa waits have ballooned since the pandemic

Average wait for a visitor-visa interview, all countries

26

​

FY 2019

201

​

FY 2025

Nearly eight times longer in six years

GAO recommends that the State Department regularly assess where it needs consular staff. State neither agreed nor disagreed.

Source: US Government Accountability Office (GAO-26-107902), analysis of State Department data, September 2026.

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What did the GAO report find?

The GAO examined the US State Department’s handling of nonimmigrant visas, which include visitor visas for tourism and business as well as visas for students, diplomats and temporary workers.

Worldwide, the weighted average wait to obtain a visitor-visa interview increased from 26 days in fiscal 2019 to 201 days in FY2025 — nearly eight times the pre-pandemic level.

At the same time, the number of US consular officers working on nonimmigrant visas fell from 1,342 in FY2024 to 904 in FY2025. GAO said the decline was associated with hiring freezes and attrition.

US processed more visitor visas than before Covid

The longer waits did not result from a fall in the number of visas being processed. The State Department adjudicated 9.2 million visitor visas in FY2019, before the pandemic. The figure fell to 1.5 million in FY2021 as Covid-19 disrupted international travel, but rose to 11.7 million in FY2025 — above the pre-pandemic level.

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GAO said the State Department has had difficulty ensuring staffing levels keep pace with demand at some consular posts.

Why are US visa waits so long?

The report points to a mismatch between demand and staffing at some US consular posts. The number of officers working on nonimmigrant visas had recovered from a pandemic-era low of 1,104 in FY2021 to 1,342 in FY2024, close to the pre-pandemic level.

But that number fell to 904 in FY2025 amid hiring freezes and attrition, according to GAO.

The State Department has a Global Repositioning Exercise, or GREX, designed to assess workloads and help align staffing with demand across posts.

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However, GAO said State had conducted the exercise only once since FY2019. It was not conducted in FY2021 and FY2022 because of Covid-related issues and was not conducted in FY2024 and FY2025 because of changing policy priorities.

GAO recommended that the State Department establish a mechanism requiring the Bureau of Consular Affairs to conduct the exercise consistently.

The State Department neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendation.

In addition, they said that many people apply for a visitor visa because it is seen as a social status symbol in India, but they have no intention of actually travelling to the US. Checking these types of factors takes additional time, according to State officials.

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What does the long wait mean for Indian travellers?

The 346-day figure is a historical FY2025 average and should not be interpreted as a fixed appointment wait for every applicant in India.

It measures the time taken to obtain an interview for a visitor visa. The actual wait can vary by consular post, visa category and appointment availability.

It also does not measure how long the State Department takes to decide a visa application after an interview.

Long waits also affect the US economy

GAO noted that international travel and tourism contributed $176 billion to the US economy in 2025.

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That was $5 billion lower than in 2024 and $28 billion below the pre-pandemic level.

The report said long waits for tourist-visa interviews were among the factors contributing to the decline.

GAO said the State Department has to balance the speed and efficiency of visa processing with national-security requirements, with interviews required in most cases before a visa can be issued.