Kenyans seeking to renew their tourist, business, students or crew US visa will no longer be subjected to interview according to the USA Embassy.
“Effective immediately, those applying for tourist/business (B1/B2), student (F, J, M) or crew visas (C1/D) categories may be eligible for a visa renewal without interview,” read part of the statement posted on the Embassy's official Twitter account .
To qualify, one must apply for the same category of visa and the visa must not have expired more than four years before the application. Initially, the maximum period was set for one year.
The US Embassy in Nairobi has also expanded the waiver on non-immigrant visas.
The Expanded Non Immigrant Visa Waiver Program follows a pledge by U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman to reduce the backlog of non immigrant visa interview appointments.
In July, the embassy came under heavy criticism after Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala nearly missed a chance to participate in the World Athletic Championship.
However he managed to travel after an uproar from the public and netcitizens that forced the Kenyan government and USA Embassy to expedite his Visa processing and facilitate his travel.
On July 16, 2022, Elizabeth Amakovc, a medical doctor in Kenya wrote an open letter to Ambassador Whitman, highlighting her frustrations arising from visa delays
The Embassy stated in its statement that the delays were caused in part by the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, which caused the backlog thus the delay.
The Embassy, however, pledged to take every possible step to expedite the process of conducting daily interviews and reducing visa interview wait times.
Visa Grader estimated that it could take a US visa applicant in Nairobi at least 174 days for his or her application to be processed.
A visitor visa takes the longest time (687 days), student/exchange visitor visa (665 days) and all other non-immigrant visas (174 days)
To lay more emphasis on her determination to expedite the Visa processing services, Ambassador Whitman has said this in her latest tweet ,”Reducing visa wait times is my number one priority. We are all working hard to do this!”
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