On Feb. 7, 2020, the official visa information website of the U.S. mission in China (http://cdn.ustraveldocs.com/cn/index.html?firstTime=No) announced that as of Feb. 3, 2020, regular visa services at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang are all suspended. The notice further states that the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in China have very limited staffing and may be unable to respond to requests regarding regular visa services. Limited emergency appointments may be available to individuals who have urgent travel needs, and qualify for an exemption under the February 2 Presidential Proclamation on Coronavirus (i.e., lawful permanent residents; spouses and children (unmarried and under age of 21) of U.S. citizens or permanent residents; parents or legal guardians of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, provided the U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents are unmarried and under 21; siblings of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, provided the U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents are unmarried and under 21). Individuals who have urgent travel needs and qualify under the exemption of the Presidential Proclamation may go to https://ustraveldocs/com/cn/index/html to submit an emergency appointment request or contact your GT attorneys for assistance.
Pursuant to this announcement, unless indicated otherwise in further notifications, all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments scheduled in the coming weeks will be cancelled. Immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants, including EB-5 immigrant visa applicants, with scheduled interview appointments in the coming weeks should expect to receive cancellation notices shortly. Please contact your GT attorneys for questions regarding the appointment cancellation and rescheduling. Please note that given the limited staffing the U.S. Embassy and Consulates operate with, we do not expect timely responses for rescheduling requests at this time. We will monitor the situation and provide updates as they become available.