United States | US pauses visa services at embassies in Congo, South Sudan and Uganda

Today, the State Department announced a temporary pause of all visa services at U.S. embassies in Juba, South Sudan; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Kampala, Uganda, due to the ongoing Ebola outbreak, effective immediately.

Key takeaways:

All immigrant and nonimmigrant visa services suspended. According to the announcement, the pause includes “applications for immigrant visas as well as nonimmigrant visas for tourists, business travelers, students, exchange visitors and all other nonimmigrant categories.” Currently valid visas are not affected by the pause.

Affected visa applicants notified. The update states that notifications were sent to affected visa applicants and that applicants will be contacted directly regarding appointment rescheduling. However, no visa appointments can be scheduled at this time.

No refunds for existing appointments. Currently, no refunds will be issued for existing appointments that have been affected by the pause.

FAQs. The announcement includes FAQs with more information regarding scheduling and says that once the pause is lifted “we will update our website when appointment scheduling resumes and inform applicants whose appointments were rescheduled.”

BAL will continue to monitor developments and provide updates as additional details become available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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