The U.S. Department of State scheduled thousands more green card interviews in August, putting a small dent in the massive backlog of immigrant visa applications.
The number of monthly scheduled green card interviews increased by 75%, from 18,979 in April to 33,306 in August. However, the backlog of applications still waiting to be scheduled for an interview was 513,887, a 10.7% increase from April. So while more scheduled interviews is an encouraging sign, the State Department is not keeping pace enough to reduce the overall backlog faster than new cases continue to pile up.
The National Visa Center (NVC) — a State Department facility that processes visa applications — publishes a monthly report to update the public on changes to the immigrant visa backlog. Wait times have surged since March, 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic led to a shutdown of U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. The pandemic continues to place strain on the number of visas the State Department is able to process.
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