Earlier this month, we learned that the Department of State had experienced a hardware glitch and were unable to process both nonimmigrant (DS-160 applications) and immigrant visa applications (DS-260s) to the U.S. 

It was announced yesterday that 50 posts, representing 73% of nonimmigrant visa demand worldwide, are back online, and the Department of State has been able to begin issuing visas. They are currently working on existing backlogs and hope that all posts will be functional by the end of the week.

The Department of State normally would have issued approximately 450,000 visas during the timeframe from June 9-23 and have issued approximately 150,000 since June 9. Consular Affairs is reporting that they expect to close this gap over the next few days.

You can find the latest information from Consular Affairs here. This includes answers to common questions, as well as a list of posts that are online and able to issue visas.

We hope that our students and scholars will not be affected by this slowdown. However, if you will not arrive in Atlanta by your intended arrival date, please take the following steps:

• New students beginning fall 2015: Graduate students should work with their graduate coordinator, who will notifiy OIE. Undergraduate students should email info@oie.gatech.edu.
• Returning students: Please email info@oie.gatech.edu if you will not be able to return for fall 2015 semester. 
• Scholars and student interns: Please work with your department's human resources administrator, who will notify OIE that your visa issuance is delayed.

OIE will continue to update our website as we receive updates.