Where to Get an E-3 Visa Appointment
When COVID shut down U.S. Consulates in early 2020, it was a struggle for Australians to get an E3 visa appointment. Subsequently, when a U.S. Consulate opened up, a surge of appointment applications flooded in. Suddenly the wait for a visa at the newly opened Consulate would be up to six months!
It’s a bit like your GPS telling you how to avoid an accident up ahead on the highway by taking a service road. Unfortunately, everyone with a GPS gets the same message and the service road is suddenly congested!
Fortunately, over this past year, we have seen U.S. Consulates reopening. Therefore, more E3 visa appointment times have become available. In August of 2022, 583 E3 visas were approved which was the highest number since mid-2019.
The Australian Community has access to the latest consular data that shows where in the world E3 visas are being processed and gives you an understanding of which U.S. Consulate to look to for booking your next E3 visa appointment.
Knowing where E3 visas are being processed is at least an indication of where your best chances are of securing an appointment.
April 2023 | E-3 | E-3D | E-3R |
---|---|---|---|
AIT Taipei | 1 | ||
Auckland | 2 | ||
Beijing | 2 | ||
Bogota | 1 | 2 | |
Bridgetown | 8 | 6 | 1 |
Brussels | 1 | ||
Buenos Aires | 1 | ||
Cape Town | 2 | ||
Dhaka | 1 | 1 | |
Dublin | 1 | ||
Frankfurt | 5 | 1 | |
Guadalajara | 1 | 4 | |
Ho Chi Minh City | 1 | 1 | |
Hong Kong | 2 | 2 | |
Hyderabad | 2 | 3 | 1 |
Jakarta | 1 | ||
Kuala Lumpur | 1 | ||
London | 26 | 33 | 35 |
Melbourne | 57 | 47 | 50 |
Mexico City | 1 | ||
Mumbai | 1 | 6 | |
Nassau | 2 | 6 | |
New Delhi | 3 | 1 | |
Ottawa | 2 | ||
Paris | 1 | ||
Perth | 13 | 14 | 7 |
Port Moresby | 1 | ||
Rio De Janeiro | 6 | 4 | 2 |
Rome | 2 | ||
Sao Paulo | 2 | ||
Seoul | 1 | ||
Shanghai | 1 | ||
Singapore | 7 | 5 | |
Stockholm | 1 | ||
Sydney | 119 | 88 | 62 |
Tel Aviv | 3 | ||
Tijuana | 1 | ||
Tokyo | 2 | 1 | |
Toronto | 5 | 5 | |
Valletta | 1 | 5 | |
Vancouver | 1 | 1 | |
As you scroll through the April 2023 data, there are some standouts:
In all, only 280 new E3 visas were approved in April. This is down from 390 in March, and 120 down from April 2022.
A quick check of visa appointment wait times (at the time of publication) at popular U.S. Consulates.
As they say in Financial Service, “past performance is not indicative of future returns”. For a full list of current U.S. Consulate visa appointment wait times visit the Visa Appointment Wait Times (US Dept of State) website.
Further, as it appears that more U.S. Consulates are able to process E-3 visas in shorter periods of time, demand was historically down in April. Hopefully, the trend line will reverse to the positive.
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