During the summer, some of you may hear from host families who report that their hosted students are having trouble scheduling in-person visa interviews. To some extent this is normal and it’s not uncommon for interviews and visa issuance to occur close to departure, however some U.S. embassies and consulates have restricted hours due to the pandemic. AFS students should continue working with the AFS staff in their home countries who can guide them on the expedited interview application process.
While AFS-USA and our AFS Sending Partners abroad have tracking systems in place to proactively identify students facing visa challenges, we kindly request that if Hosting Volunteers become aware of a visa-related challenge for a particular participant via a host family or participant, please alert your Regional Field Specialist.