That is particularly the case for first-time flyers
Executives within the journey trade are reporting delays in getting US go to visas, with some saying appointments are solely obtainable in August 2023. “Residents can apply for US vacationer visas, however the appointment will likely be obtainable by mid-next yr,” mentioned Bharat Aidasani, director of Pluto travels.
“Residents need to journey, and we have now been receiving big journey demand to the US and Schengen nations. Nevertheless, attributable to unavailability of visas, we have now different journey choices to many new locations,” mentioned Aidasani.
Jonathan Webster, consul normal, US Embassy in Abu Dhabi confirmed that there are important delays in issuing vacationer visas, particularly to first-time candidates.
“Some first-time visa candidates are getting appointments in August 2023,” famous Webster.
“The scenario shouldn’t be distinctive to the UAE because the pandemic and the following lockdown significantly impacted our operations and led to a backlog. Nevertheless, I encourage individuals to maintain checking the net appointments system for availability as typically spots open up earlier,” said the consul normal.
Nevertheless, Webster additionally mentioned these with US visas which expired throughout the final 4 years will be capable of request for an interview waiver. “Moreover, college students and people with medical emergencies or vital enterprise journey will be capable of make the most of expedited procedures,” he added.
Raja Mir Wasim, supervisor, Galadari Worldwide Journey Providers mentioned that they obtained an appointment in August 2023. “We now have utilized for a US visa for our shopper and have obtained the appointment for subsequent yr. All we will do is to produce other journey choices for now,” mentioned Wasim.
Wasim additionally added that visas are being prioritized in emergency instances like demise or medical instances.
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Libin Varghese, director of gross sales and advertising, ROOH Tourism LLC highlighted that no particular timeframe for appointments might be given. “We can not give a selected timeframe for appointments, however all we will say is the appointment will likely be scheduled subsequent yr after June,” mentioned Varghese.
“Journey to US has all the time been in demand and I consider it is because of functions that had been obtained throughout the pandemic because the journey trade was at nonetheless,” added Varghese.
Following the delay in Schengen visas and US visas, Varghese mentioned that the residents are keen to journey to a couple nations in Europe, and even Africa. “We now have journey scheduled for a number of European nations like Serbia, Eurasian nations like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Asian nations like Kazakhstan,” added Varghese.
One other journey aggregator, Thomas Liju, Gross sales Supervisor, Excursions On Board Pvt LTD mentioned that residents are even opting to journey to Far Jap nations for summer season particularly those that are unable to acquire visas to the US or Schengen nations.
“Many residents have additionally cancelled their journey plans to Europe attributable to delay in visa appointments due to an enormous rush because the journey sector recovers quickly after the pandemic,” mentioned Liju.
“Residents at the moment are choosing Bali and different Indonesian cities, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand,” added Liju.