Increased Visa Scrutiny Announced

The U.S. Secretary of State has directed all U.S. consulates to take all possible steps to increase scrutiny of all visa applications and applicants themselves for security threats.  These diplomatic cables direct officers to ask more detailed questions about the background of all applicants and requires applicants whose nationality or background may raise security concerns to provide additional information, including: travel history over the last 15 years; names of siblings, children and former spouses not already recorded in the DS-160/260 or NIV/IVO case notes; addresses over the last 15 years; prior passport numbers; prior jobs and employers, including brief descriptions if applicable, for the last 15 years; any phone number the applicant has used in the last five years; email addresses and social media handles the applicants has used in the last five years.  The cables also will now limit consular officers to no more than 120 interviews per day, a change that will likely cause backlogs and processing delays.

These additional stricter screening requirements, along with the limits on interviews are likely to result in potential administrative processing delays for some applicants.  Additionally, these new directives will likely cause slowdowns in visa issuance and an increase in visa denials.