On December 15th, 2022, the United States Department of State’s U.S. Mission China Consular Services made an announcement regarding the indefinite suspension of all routine visas due to the recent outpouring of COVID-19 cases in China. According to specialists, greater than 700 million individuals might contract COVID-19 this winter, with up to one million fatalities possible by 2023. As of December 19th, 2022, United States consulate offices in China will be providing emergency services only, along with the United States embassy in Beijing.
According to a recent advisory, all regularly planned appointments at Embassy Beijing and the other Consulates General have been canceled, and all normal Visa Services; with the exception of those that were previously booked for Consulate General Shanghai are now on hold. For people who are in the process of applying for a visa or trying to renew their visa, it is being recommended that they reschedule their appointments to a later date. At the moment, it is currently impossible to determine how long this suspension will last, but updates are being posted on the website of the U.S. embassy and consulates in China.
Since January 2020, when the first COVID-19-related U.S. travel restriction prohibiting passengers who were physically in China from entering the United States was issued, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on international travel and U.S. consular operations. In February 2020, routine visa services in China were discontinued. They did not start back up again until the travel embargo was eventually removed in November of 2021. Despite the efforts of the State Department and United States consulates across the globe, there is still a considerable delay in visa processing because of COVID-19 pandemic circumstances and nation specific response measures, including travel bans and lockdowns.
