We’re proud of the work our teams are doing to facilitate travel around the world, foster people-to-people connections, and deliver economic benefits to local communities and key regions across the United States. positive speed of Record breaking year of 2023 Visa processing will continue in 2024.
In the first half of the fiscal year (FY) 2024 (October 2023 to March 2024), the State Department released Approximately 5.2 million non-immigrant visas worldwide, higher than the corresponding period of any previous year. Over the past six months, 30 percent of our U.S. embassies and consulates abroad have set an all-time record for nonimmigrant visa issuances.
We take seriously our role in supporting travel and tourism, a key sector and critical enabler of American job growth, while maintaining national security. In recent years international visitors have contributed $239 billion annually to the US economy, supporting an estimated 9.5 million US jobs.
in the first half of the financial year 2024:
- The Department issued approximately 4.1 million B visitor visas (and border crossing cards) to tourists and temporary business travelers worldwide.
- Our highest-volume missions continued to set records. About two-thirds of the B visitor visas and border crossing cards were issued in Mexico, India, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. Together, these Missions issued record levels of more visas than ever before.
Our efforts strengthen the United States as a top educational destination, and facilitate the workforce and talent needed to keep our economy strong. By mid-fiscal 2024:
- We issued visas to approximately 134,000 Exchange Visitor Program participants and 115,000 students. According to the Commerce Department, international students will contribute nearly $38 billion and more than 335,000 jobs to the US economy in 2022.
- We issued a record-breaking 205,000 visas to temporary or seasonal workers in agriculture and other sectors, providing legitimate labor pathways that support key parts of the American economy and protect the American food supply.
- We issued approximately 160,000 non-immigrant visas to airline and shipping crew members who support our global transportation and supply chains. This was the second largest half-year issuance record in this category in history.
- We issued nearly 25,000 employment-based immigrant visas – a 75 percent increase over the same period in fiscal year 2019.
The timely processing of immigrant visas to reunify families and support the U.S. economy remains a priority for the Administration. In the first six months of FY 2024:
- We issued more than 281,000 immigrant visas
- By the middle of fiscal year 2024, a quarter of US embassies and consulates issued more immigrant visas than in any prior year in the last decade.
- We issued more than 152,000 immigrant visas to family members of U.S. citizens in the immediate relative category – the highest level ever for the half of the fiscal year.
We are continuing to expand our capacity to handle the historically high levels of demand for US visas. These efforts include the adoption of innovative technological solutions, as well as expanding the use of proven, secure tools such as waiver of in-person interviews for eligible visa applicants while maintaining strict national security requirements. The State Department is committed to supporting the US economy and American families and communities through the timely processing of visa applications around the world.
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