The diplomatic imbalance between the United States of America and other countries has escalated to a new level.
This is after those who intended to travel to the USA from Kenya were told to wait until June 2024 to secure a visitor’s visa appointment at the embassy.
According to the US embassy in Nairobi, all the other dates have been booked.
Through a statement posted on its website, the embassy told applicants to expect delays in most stages of visa processing.
The embassy narrated that the interruptions were caused by a significant backlog of applications resulting from closures due to COVID-19.
“The next available dates for a visitor visa appointment in Nairobi are in June 2024. US Embassy Nairobi recognises the significant challenges and frustrations this poses for Kenyans planning to visit the United States,” read the statement.
However, the embassy said it was aware that many visa applicants had paid the visa application-processing fee and were waiting to schedule a visa appointment and thus were speeding up the process.
The US State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs says the average waiting period for a US visitor visa appointment in Nairobi is 687 days.
This compared to other countries triples the average wait time for a US traveller visa in London.
The statement by the US embassy claims that due to the Covid-19 health and safety measures, on-migrant visa interviews at the Nairobi office ceased for over a year and interviews only restarted at full capacity in February.
It further noted that since resuming operations, the mission in Nairobi had doubled the number of daily interventions adding that they would continue to add more staff and increase capacity over time.
“As we work through the backlog of the applications and address the high demand for services, we recognise that some applicants may face extended visa interview wait timers. This is a worldwide problem that the US embassies are diligently striving to address,” the statement added.
The statement by the embassy comes a week after members of Kenya’s team to the just-ended World athletics championships in Oregon, US almost missed the games because of visa challenges.
Top athletes like African champion Ferdinand Omanyala had not been issued with their visas hours before the start of the world athletics championships.
It would later emerge that the American embassy had refused to issue extra visas after it occurred the list given by the Ministry of Sports had exceeded the 80 that was approved by Athletics Kenya (AK).
The ministry of sports led by Cabinet Secretary (CS) Amina Mohammed forwarded a list of 112, which included 32 individuals not known to the athletics body.
Nevertheless, the embassy noted it had extended the validity of the payment (known as the MRV fee) until September 30, 2023.
This is to allow all applicants who were unable to schedule a visa appointment an opportunity to schedule and attend a visa appointment with the already-paid fee.
The embassy also clarified that in case of emergency appointments, they would consider prioritising such requests.