USA stakeholders urge faster student visa processing and higher approval rates

The U.S. for Success Coalition, which was established last year to provide a coordinated national lobbying voice for the international education sector, has written to the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs citing “numerous consulates, particularly in the Global South” that have wait times of more than 100 days for F, M and J visa interviews.

“This is a pivotal time of year when international students apply for visas to arrive on a U.S. campus on time for the fall academic term. While we greatly appreciate all that the State Department has done to improve visa processing, from maintaining the waiver policy for in-person interviews to prioritizing international student visa applications, there is a lack of clarity around how individual consulates go about setting interview wait times and prioritizing student applicants,” the Coalition said in the letter.

“Seeing extremely long wait times may cause students to conclude that they will not be able to obtain a visa in time to begin their academic study on time in the U.S. and instead pursue programs in other countries.”

The group cited data from the Consular Affairs website that estimated interview times range from 100 to 300 days at consulates located in major student markets such as Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Nepal and Nigeria.

“China and India are the two largest sending countries of students to the United States, yet the current wait times in China are considerably lower than those in India; the longest wait time in China is in Shanghai (34 days), whereas the wait times across all consulates in India range from 156 to 310 days.”

The U.S for Success Coalition also expressed concern that there is still a disproportionately high visa refusal rate for Africa.

“Africa has a large and growing youth population and U.S. colleges and universities are increasingly recruiting talented students from the region. The lack of African international students in our classrooms only harms our standing in Africa as other competitor countries, including both China and Russia, are actively recruiting students from across the continent,” the group said.

“It also deprives U.S. students the opportunity to engage with and learn from these students.”

Last year, Shorelight and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration published a report on analysis of F-1 student visa denials between 2015 and 2022, which showed that the visa denial rate for African students increased over that period and was 54 per cent in 2022.

In a new update to that report, the authors said that this further increased to 57 per cent in 2023, compared with 38 per cent denials for Asia, 27 per cent for South America, and only eight per cent for Europe.

They said that 80 per cent of the top 15 countries with increased visa refusal rates in 2023 were from Africa, although they also noted that rates improved in 19 African countries.

As previously reported, NAFSA has launched a tool that USA international education industry stakeholders can sign to urge their representatives in Congress to expand visa processing capacity and improve visa success rates in the Global South.

The template letter prepared by NAFSA, states, “Clear and consistent visa processing is essential to ensure the United States remains competitive in attracting global talent to its colleges and universities, for the benefit of our campuses, communities, and society.”