Business Travelers and Tourists, Apply Early and Keep Your Visa Valid

Interest in travel to America continues to grow, and we expect an extraordinary peak application period this summer. We look forward to welcoming qualified visitors to our country for tourism, business, cultural and other purposes. As you plan for your trips to the United States, we encourage you to plan ahead to allow us enough time to process your visa before your trip.

We recommend that business travelers and tourists make their appointment early and interview as far in advance of their planned travel as possible. Applying several months in advance will ensure that we have time to conduct your interview, review your application, and determine whether we can issue you a visa.

The majority of visas can be processed in several days; however, some visa applications require additional administrative processing. Administrative processing for business and tourist visas is currently taking about 3-4 weeks.

If you are a frequent traveler to the United States, we recommend that you keep your visa valid at all times to avoid delays. You may be eligible to renew your visa without coming to the U.S. Embassy for an interview and fingerscan by using the CITIC Bank Drop-off Visa Renewal Service. Please see the visa renewals page for requirements and instructions for using this service. 

Thank you for your cooperation, and for your interest in visiting our country.