Starting December 2, Lithuanian and Latvian nationals will have to travel out of the country to apply for a US visa, as the services are being transferred to Stockholm, Sweden. This change has been introduced as an effort by the authorities to make the application process more seamless.
According to the US Embassy in Lithuania, the new measure will apply to visas for family reunification or Green Card visas, K-type visas, and V92/V93, which refers to asylum and refugee family member visas. The US Embassy in Riga, Latvia, will also stop accepting visa requests from applicants, Schengen.News reports.
US Embassy in Sweden to Become an Application Centre for Baltic & Scandinavian Countries
The US Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, will be accepting visa applications from Lithuania and Latvia, while it already handles immigration visas for Denmark and Norway.
As the authorities noted, the Embassy in Sweden has sufficient experience and staff to handle the workloads of four EU countries while also maintaining low waiting times.
Since the new measure will enter into force in a few weeks, those who have already completed their interview in Vilnius will have their visa processed in Lithuania.
Wait Times for US Visa Application Appointments Are The Highest in Stockholm
According to data shared by the US Department of State, the visa appointment wait times in Vilnius, Lithuania, for all types of non-immigrant visas, is one calendar day.
Wait times for students, temporary workers, crew, transit, and visitor visas are two calendar days, while applicants for the remaining visa types have to wait up to one calendar day.
Stockholm, on the other hand, has a long waiting list for appointments. For example, applicants for student or exchange visitor visas, temporary work, crew, and transit, as well as the interview for tourist visas, have to wait 21 calendar days for an appointment.
The data also reveals that in 2023, 2,291 visas were issued to Latvian applicants, slightly up from 2,178 recorded in 2022. In addition, 2,948 visas were granted to applicants from Lithuania, while Swedes received 13,491 US visas in 2023.
Source: https://schengen.news/lithuanians-latvians-will-have-to-travel-to-stockholm-to-apply-for-us-visa-from-december/
