GAO Report Finds US Visitor Visa Interview Wait Time Surged to 201 Days, Costing Billions in Tourism Revenue

The U.S. State Department holds the keys to the nation's front door, possessing the sole authority to shift consular staff worldwide to meet surging travel demand. Yet, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on September 28, the department has repeatedly bypassed its own staffing assessments, leaving prospective visitors waiting an average of 201 days just to secure a visa interview. The agency now faces mounting pressure to formally mandate its annual staffing review, a move that could finally clear the backlog and restore a vital economic pipeline.[1][6]

For international travelers dreaming of a New York holiday or a California road trip, the administrative bottleneck has turned planning into a multi-year ordeal. The GAO found that visitor visa adjudications have rebounded past pre-pandemic levels, hitting 11.7 million in fiscal year 2025. However, the wait time for an interview ballooned to nearly eight times its 2019 average of 26 days. This delay forces families to postpone reunions and pushes business travelers to cancel appearances at major American conferences.[1][4]

The consequences ripple far beyond frustrated vacationers, striking directly at the American hospitality and tourism sectors. International tourism injected $176 billion into the U.S. economy in 2025—outpacing both steel and automotive exports—but that figure fell $5 billion short of 2024 levels and remained $28 billion below pre-COVID benchmarks. Industry advocates point directly to the visa delays as the primary culprit for the missing revenue, noting that prolonged waits deter high-spending international tourists, who simply choose other global destinations that offer a more seamless entry process.[1]

The staffing math at the State Department explains much of the delay. While the number of consular officers processing nonimmigrant visas briefly recovered to 1,342 in 2024, hiring freezes and attrition drove the workforce down to just 904 officers in 2025. This sharp contraction in personnel occurred exactly as global travel demand surged, creating a structural deficit that the department has struggled to manage without a systematic reallocation of its remaining workforce. The drop in staffing levels directly correlates with the ballooning wait times across the globe.[1]

This personnel shortage hits certain high-demand countries particularly hard, creating stark disparities in the global travel experience. In Mexico, which generated over 2.6 million visa applications, the wait time averages 283 days. In India, where 1.4 million applicants vie for interview slots, the wait stretches to a staggering 346 days, severely impacting families and business travelers alike. By contrast, countries like Brazil and China see wait times hovering around a much more manageable 32 to 34 days, largely due to a better ratio of consular officers to the volume of applications they receive.[1][5]

The State Department does possess a tool to fix this imbalance: the Global Repositioning Exercise (GREX), designed to align staffing levels with actual workloads. "State has a process for assessing workloads and adjusting staffing as needed, but doesn't use it consistently," the GAO report notes, pointing out that the department has only implemented this exercise once since 2019. Officials cited pandemic disruptions and shifting policy priorities as reasons for skipping the assessment in recent years, leaving high-demand posts chronically understaffed.[1][4]

To provide immediate transparency, the State Department has updated its public tracking tools, now publishing wait times in 15- or 30-day increments and highlighting the "next available appointment" to give travelers a more accurate picture of what to expect. While this data helps applicants plan their trips with greater precision, it does not solve the underlying capacity issue. The tracking tool simply clarifies exactly how many months a prospective visitor will spend in administrative limbo, offering little comfort to those hoping to travel in the near term.[2][3]

The GAO recommends that the State Department make the GREX a mandatory, regular requirement rather than an optional exercise. "We recommended that State require regular use of this process to address its staffing needs," the auditors concluded, emphasizing that a formal mandate would prevent future staffing imbalances. Until those realignments take effect, prospective visitors must continue to book their appointments months in advance, and the U.S. tourism industry must brace for continued financial losses as potential guests look elsewhere.[1][4]