The United States Embassy in Ghana says the waiting time for appointments after non-immigrant visa applications has been reduced.
The new waiting duration, according to the US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer is now less than six months.
“That is down from two and half years when I arrived earlier this year. That is still too long but we are still taking steps to continue to reduce wait times, particularly for renewal,” she said.
The diplomat made these comments in a video posted on the embassy’s official social media accounts on Friday, October 21, 2022.
Addressing applicants, she explained that the plight of international students is also at the core of her office’s activities.
She said the embassy has also “worked to ensure that students got accelerated processing to facilitate their education before the start of classes.
“We processed a record 7,000 student visa cases in the last 12 months alone. That’s nearly 70% more than our previous record,” Mrs Palmer explained.
The ambassador revealed that a total of 32,000 visa applications were processed in the past years alone.
Against these numbers, more effort is being implemented to reduce the backlog of cases and reduce wait time further, per her assessment.
Virginia Palmer is also cognisant of the need for Immigration Visa applications to get some attention, adding that “you can be assured that reducing wait times for immigration visas is very much on our minds.”