Visa appointments canceled due to system maintenance

U.S. embassies and consulates around the world have said they will suspend visa appointments on Aug. 7 and 10 because of scheduled maintenance to the State Department’s systems. Normal operations are expected to resume Aug. 11.

Foreign nationals with interviews scheduled for Aug. 7 or 10 who have not had their appointments automatically rescheduled should contact the appropriate embassy or consulate about whether they need a new appointment.

American citizen services may be affected on Aug. 7 and 10, depending on the consulate. Emergency services are not expected to be affected.

News of the scheduled outage comes after U.S. embassies and consulates were left unable to issue visas for nearly two weeks in June when a computer problem crippled biometric data processing.

BAL Analysis: Foreign nationals with interviews originally scheduled for Aug. 7 or 10 should contact the appropriate embassy or consulate as soon as possible about whether they need to reschedule their appointments. Foreign nationals should also prepare for possible delays in the days immediately following the outage.

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