The next available US visa application appointments at the Durban and Cape Town centres are on January 29 and February 4 respectively. The Johannesburg centre has availability from December 4.
This is according to visa processing companies canvassed by eTNW, whohave also reported that a number of their clients have had to cancel US trips as a result.
eTNW understands that on Monday (November 19) the next available appointments at the Durban and Cape Town centres were on December 18, however, by Wednesday (November 21) these had jumped to the end of January.
The US Embassy told eTNW: "We have work visa appointments available in Johannesburg from Monday and always encourage applicants to apply at any US consulate if they are not able to get a sooner appointment at their preferred consulate. Given our much smaller staff in Cape Town and Durban, we don’t always have the same appointment scheduling flexibility in those locations."
Visazone advises agents to keep checking appointment availability, as the US Embassy may release additional appointments to address high demand.
US visa application appointments have often required four-week waiting periods in 2018, however, this is the first time this year that they have been delayed by two months.
