The Department of State (“DOS”) has released additional information that discusses what caused the Consular Consolidated Database to crash and its impact at Consulates throughout the world. Since July 20th, the Consulates have printed nearly 250,000 nonimmigrant visas. Normally, the DOS would expect to issue about 480,000 nonimmigrant visas during this period of time. This means that the Consulates have only been able to print visas for about half of the expected applicants. Unfortunately, the DOS believes that it will take weeks before its Consulates are able to return to normal processing times for issuing visas. The DOS provided some further information, including:
- The Consular Consolidated Database, including backup systems, crashed as a result of a software upgrade issue.
- The DOS is prioritizing immigrant visas, adoption cases, and emergency nonimmigrant visas.
- There is no expected time frame when the DOS expects this problem to be resolved.
The Hammond Law Group urges individuals who have not made specific travel plans and who will require a new visas stamp in their passport to return to the U.S. to hold off on traveling until this problem is resolved.