The U.S. Embassy in the capital, Ankara, gave a tour of its new building and pledged to accelerate the slow visa process for Turkish citizens.
The building in Ankara’s Çukurambar district was opened for visa applications on Thursday. Jayne Howell, U.S. Consul General for Ankara, told reporters that they increased the processing capacity for visa applications, acknowledging that the one-year waiting process for applications was “not good.” “We are working hard to decrease waiting times,” Howell said.
The consular services section of the new embassy building is now more spacious and comfortable, Howell said.
Howell pointed out to backlog of applications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted public services everywhere. She said they significantly increased capacity for processing visa renewal without interviews and people whose visas expired in the last four years can apply for renewal via mail and get online appointments.
She said visa delays were not confined to Türkiye and it was a “global problem,” citing lockdowns and quarantines in many countries and restrictions on travel, as well as resource shortages in many U.S. embassies across the world.
