US Missions In UAE Expand Consular Staff To Address Visa Processing Delays, Backlog

U.S. missions in the UAE are looking to expedite visa processing by hiring additional consular staff. The move is expected to clear up the existing backlog of visa applications as a result of the pandemic, although a senior consular official said it would still take a long time.

"We are going to continually receive additional staff well into the next year. And we are always looking for ways to add capacity," said Jonathan Webster, consul general at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

"In the coming year, we hope to issue double the number of visas we did this year, but it will still take time to clear all the applications. So, all that said, there still can be extensive wait times for a regular tourist visa appointment, which can be up to one year," Webster said, as quoted by the national news.

Webster said considering that, there could still be extensive wait times for a regular tourist visa appointment, which could take up to a year. "In the coming year, we look to do about 125 percent of what we did this year. But even with that, it will take some time to get through all the demand that is out there," he said.

Webster explained that the surge in seasonal demand for visas resulted in delays during the pandemic, noting that the backlog even built up when U.S. missions stopped issuing visas. "Our operations were limited to two pandemic-related restrictions—the number of people that could be in a public place, including our waiting room, and also the number of staff we could have in the office," he said.

"And because of that limitation, demand built up. We're now seeing a resurgence in international travel, and new additional demand is constantly coming in," he added.

Webster said the consular sections in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are now fully operational and 96 percent of U.S. embassies and consulates around the world have started providing visa services again. In the UAE alone, U.S. missions have processed at least 125,000 non-immigrant visas since January this year, exceeding the number of visa applications processed before the pandemic in 2019.