As the United States first began to tackle COVID-19 in March 2020, cross-border movement suffered. Immigration and travel ground to a halt. Now, nearly two years into the pandemic, issues at U.S. embassies and consulates are still preventing tourists, students, and temporary workers from getting their visas.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-related closures and staffing issues in responsible agencies have hobbled legal travel and immigration to the U.S. "As of mid-October, 60 percent of consulates remained fully or partially closed to anything other than emergency nonimmigrant visa appointments, and 40 percent are completely closed to non-emergency nonimmigrant visa appointments," noted Cato Institute immigration research fellow David J. Bier. Bier wrote that only 2 percent of consulates had fully reopened between August and October 2021, despite vaccines being available to all consular officers since May 2021.
