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The average wait for a U.S. visitor-visa interview was 201 days in fiscal 2025, up from 26 days in 2019, while the consular officers who mainly handle temporary visas fell from 1,342 to 904 in a year, GAO reports; it counts one global staffing review State conducted and carried out since 2019, and State neither agreed nor disagreed with GAO's call to require it.

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On September 28 the Government Accountability Office reported that the average wait to get a U.S. visitor-visa interview was 201 days in fiscal 2025, almost eight times the 26 days of fiscal 2019, while visitor-visa decisions rose to 11.7 million from 9.2 million. Consular officers spending most of their time on temporary visas fell from 1,342 in fiscal 2024 to 904 in 2025, which GAO attributes to hiring freezes and attrition. In India, 68 such officers faced 1,455,255 applications and a 346-day average wait; Colombia's average was 597 days. State's Global Repositioning Exercise, meant to move consular positions to where the demand is, is not required by law, regulation or policy, State officials told GAO, and GAO counts one conducted and carried out since 2019. GAO recommends requiring it. State neither agreed nor disagreed, and says it runs the exercise annually. A footnote puts the fiscal 2024 average at 246 days, so the wait shortened as staff fell; the report does not explain why. Since October 1, 2025, State says, most applicants must interview in person.

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For someone in India hoping to visit the United States, the average wait just to get a visa interview was 346 days in fiscal 2025. In Colombia it was 597 days. Worldwide it was 201 days, up from 26 in 2019, the Government Accountability Office reported on September 28.

Fewer people were left to hold those interviews. Consular officers who spend more than half their time on temporary visas numbered 1,342 in fiscal 2024 and 904 in fiscal 2025. GAO's summary attributes the fall to hiring freezes and attrition.

Demand came back; the staff did not

Visitor-visa decisions, 9.2 million in fiscal 2019, reached 11.7 million in 2025. State officials in Brazil, China, India and Mexico told GAO that staffing relative to demand was the main factor behind wait times. GAO's fiscal 2025 table:

  • India: 68 officers, 1,455,255 applications, 21,401 per officer, a 346-day average wait.
  • Mexico: 124 officers, 2,658,627 applications, 21,441 per officer, 283 days.
  • Brazil: 87 officers, 13,118 applications per officer, 32 days.
  • China, with Hong Kong: 119 officers, 10,135 per officer, 34 days.

State has an unofficial goal of an interview within 90 days. In 2019, two countries averaged longer than that. In 2025, 39 did.

A staffing review State keeps skipping

State has a tool for moving consular positions to where the work is, the Global Repositioning Exercise, or GREX. Officials told GAO it is meant to run every year, but "it is not required by law, regulation, or policy". The last full one, in fiscal 2023, restored 81 positions cut during COVID. State skipped 2021 and 2022 for the pandemic, and left 2024 and 2025 unfinished, citing policy changes that included a hiring freeze and a reduction in force. Consular positions are capped at 1,925 worldwide, so adding one at a busy embassy means abolishing one elsewhere.

GAO's single recommendation: the Secretary of State should require the Bureau of Consular Affairs to run the exercise consistently, through a policy or other guidance. State neither agreed nor disagreed. Its August 8 letter says the bureau runs the exercise annually and will keep doing so. GAO's reply: "State conducted and implemented one GREX in the past 6 years."

Two numbers that do not line up

GAO's text calls the fall to 904 "a reduction of 498 CA officers from FY 2024". Its own figures, 1,342 and 904, differ by 438. The 498 matches the drop from 2019's 1,402.

And 201 days is not the peak. A footnote puts fiscal 2024 at 246 days, so the global wait shortened in the same year the officer count fell by nearly a third. The report does not say why. It does report that temporary adjudicators, staff sent from lower-demand posts, rose to 220 in fiscal 2025. Its officer counts are March snapshots; 2025's came two months after the January 20, 2025 hiring freeze.

If you are applying or hosting

  • Plan in months, and check your embassy's current wait before setting a date. State officials define the wait as "the number of calendar days until the next day with at least 5 percent of appointments available."
  • Expect an interview on renewal. Since October 1, 2025, State told GAO, "most nonimmigrant visa applicants must be interviewed in person by a consular officer", and the window to renew without one shrank to 12 months, for certain visa types only.
  • Make sure the numbers match. Since April 2025 the barcode number on the interview confirmation page must match the number used to book. GAO reports that "Interviewees with mismatched numbers were turned away." The rule targets fixers: paid agents, some of whom grab appointment slots to resell.

What the record does not say

  • Today's waits. GAO's figures end September 30, 2025, before the in-person interview rule. State's travel.state.gov pages blocked Hugin's reader on September 28; this record has no current wait for any embassy.
  • Whether staffing has recovered. State officials told GAO they are "back to hiring at the rate they did before the hiring freeze" in fiscal 2026, and that a 2026 staffing exercise is under way. The report has no 2026 counts.
  • Cause. GAO says the skipped reviews may have contributed to misaligned staffing and long waits. It does not say they caused them.

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