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According to law firm AG Immigration, the waiting time for an interview at the US consulate in Rio de Janeiro to obtain a tourist visa for the United States is 454 days – practically, one year and three months. It is the longest-serving position among all US diplomatic representations in Brazil.
Tourist visas account for 92% of all entry requests made by Brazilians to the US government. In the first five months of 2022, 319 thousand B1/B2 visas were issued. Last year in the same period, the number was only 978 due to the pandemic.
“The United States is the main tourist destination for Brazilians, but those who want to travel this year, however, have to wait for the recommendation. You should not buy airline tickets without first confirming that the visa has been approved. should or should not make hotel reservations”, says Felipe Alexandre, immigration attorney and founding partner of the firm, in Washington DC.
Rio: Long wait time
The 454-day wait for interview at the consulate in Rio de Janeiro is the longest of all US diplomatic posts in Brazil.
The capital of Rio de Janeiro is followed by Porto Alegre (406 days), So Paulo (365), Brasilia (314) and Recife (307). All with longer wait times than in the pre-pandemic period. “We know that the consular officers in Brazil have tried to serve everyone. This is a circumstantial delay, due to the two years the consulate and embassy were practically closed to the public”, remarked Alexandre.
Even with above-average times, waits in the Brazilian representation are shorter than their South American counterparts. For example, at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, the queue is 504 days. In Bogota, there are 738; Whereas in Santiago there is a wait of 853 days.
Even in Mexico, a neighboring country of the US and a country with high demand for US visas, times are running fast. The US Embassy in Mexico City currently has a 581-day wait for an interview with an official.
