With the nation currently experiencing historic backlogs for tourist visas, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) earlier this month proposed a bipartisan bill to reduce appointment wait times for certain nonimmigrant visas known as visitor visas.
“Many of my constituents have families who live across the Americas who have to wait egregiously long amounts of time to see their loved ones in the U.S.,” Rep. Salazar said. “The bureaucratic breakdown of consular services at the State Department needs to be fixed immediately. No more excuses — get to work to bring these wait times down.”
Rep. Salazar sponsored the Visitor Visa Wait Time Reduction Act, H.R. 5127, alongside 24 original cosponsors, including U.S. Reps. Carol Miller (R-WV), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), and Susie Lee (D-NV).
If enacted, H.R. 5127 would require the U.S. State Department to outline steps to address the problem at each diplomatic post where the wait time for a visitor visa appointment exceeds 100 days, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Salazar’s staff.
Additionally, H.R. 5127 would temporarily reassign staff from other State Department offices to diplomatic posts where the wait time for a nonimmigrant visa appointment exceeds 300 days, the summary says.
“With tourist visa processing wait times often spanning multiple years, places like Las Vegas are seeing less travelers and less business, hampering economic growth and also preventing many Nevadans from welcoming their family members from across the globe to celebrate some of life’s biggest moments,” said Rep. Lee, the lead original cosponsor of H.R. 5127. “I’m proud to stand with Congresswoman Salazar to introduce this bipartisan, common-sense legislation to improve processing capacity, clear the visitor visa backlog, and support our travel and tourism industry.”
The bill has garnered support from the U.S. Travel Association and is under consideration by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.