How Long for tourist visa to the US?

[Gas]

Have been looking at visiting a few countries later on this year and we had planned a short visit to my nephews and nieces in New York then a  trip over the border to Canada to my wife's brother. Anyway because of my suspicious  travel history in the late 80's i have to go through the same process as the wife to obtain a tourist visa for the USA.  We both had 10 year multiple entry visas in the past but they have now expired. 

So today i decided to look at the visa appointment wait times and guess we will not be going anytime soon! 

Visa Appointment Wait Times (state.gov)

 

[OnMyWay]

10 minutes ago, Gas said:

We both had 10 year multiple entry visas in the past but they have now expired. 

If your visa expired less than 48 months ago you might qualify for an "interview waiver" and be able to get a visa renewal using only a courier.  My wife got hers done like this in December.

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-visarenew.asp

[Gas]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

If your visa expired less than 48 months ago you might qualify for an "interview waiver" and be able to get a visa renewal using only a courier.  My wife got hers done like this in December.

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-visarenew.asp

Thanks. Our last visas expired in 2011 and the only reason we applied in 2001 was to visit my terminally ill sister. 
After the way I was treated in the past i had decided never to visit the US but wife’s been nagging me to go see the family, so still might apply and wait 377 days plus for a interview! 

[hk blues]

15 hours ago, Gas said:

Thanks. Our last visas expired in 2011 and the only reason we applied in 2001 was to visit my terminally ill sister. 
After the way I was treated in the past i had decided never to visit the US but wife’s been nagging me to go see the family, so still might apply and wait 377 days plus for a interview! 

Wow...you could probably get an appointment with a GP in the UK quicker!

[Youngster]

On 2/26/2022 at 7:08 PM, Gas said:

Thanks. Our last visas expired in 2011 and the only reason we applied in 2001 was to visit my terminally ill sister. 
After the way I was treated in the past i had decided never to visit the US but wife’s been nagging me to go see the family, so still might apply and wait 377 days plus for a interview! 

My wife has been wanting to visit the US and told me about the long wait time for an interview, so we've discussed, perhaps going to a third country like Thailand where wait time is considerably shorter to 10 days. US State Department does allow interviews to be done in a third country, however, discourages this path, recommending interviews should be scheduled in the country of residence in their website.  I am curious as to why the long wait in the Philippines vs other countries.

[scott h]

58 minutes ago, Youngster said:

 I am curious as to why the long wait in the Philippines vs other countries.

supply and demand, the number of folks here that have relatives in the US is huge. Every time we drive by the embassy the number of people lined up is in the 100s

[OnMyWay]

On 3/2/2022 at 7:27 AM, scott h said:

supply and demand, the number of folks here that have relatives in the US is huge. Every time we drive by the embassy the number of people lined up is in the 100s

That is part of it but a lot of those people are not there for tourist visas.  Fiancé visas just got started again in Manila with a one year backlog.  Other immigrant visas are backlogged as well, in many countries.  The U.S. processing centers in the U.S. are backlogged for everything.  I will be in the line for my daughter's passport renewal on March 28.

I kind of doubt that you can get a regular tourist visa in Thailand in 2 weeks.  An emergency tourist visa in the Philippines is quoted as 2 weeks.  Perhaps that is what someone is referring to in Thailand.

@Youngster No matter where your wife applies for a tourist visa, she will need to show strong ties to the Philippines in order to get it.

Semi-related, this was just posted in the San Antonio Filipino Facebook group I belong to.  Everyone is having difficulty getting visas.

 

[Freebie]

On 3/2/2022 at 7:27 AM, scott h said:

Every time we drive by the embassy the number of people lined up is in the 100s

Not forgetting that over 90% of all visa applications by Filipinos for US are denied. That figure came from a US Embassy staffer I knew.