A computer glitch in a key U.S. Department of State (DOS) database is causing delays in the issuance of visas and passports at U.S. consulates around the world. From DOS: "Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs is currently experiencing technical problems with our passport / visa system.
This issue is worldwide and is not specific to any particular country, citizenship document, or visa category. We apologize to applicants who are experiencing delays or are unable to obtain a passport, Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or visa at this time."
The Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) is still performing below
its normal operational capacity. However, to give you an idea of the
progress we have made, since July 20, our embassies and consulates have
printed close to 250,000 nonimmigrant visas globally. Based on our
average production figures, we would have anticipated issuing closer to
480,000 nonimmigrant visas in that time period, indicating we have been
able to print documents for just over half of all approved travelers.
It will take some weeks before we are back to normal turnaround times on issued visas. We continue to prioritize immigrant visas, adoption cases, and
emergency nonimmigrant visa cases. We are printing visas for these
cases with very few delays.
Nearly all passports are being issued within our customer service
standards, despite the system problems. We are issuing passports for
emergency travel without delay.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What caused the system performance issues? Hardware, software, or both? Details?
On July 20, to improve overall system performance and address
previous intermittent performance issues, we updated software per
industry recommendations. Our database began experiencing significant
performance issues shortly after this maintenance was performed.
A root cause has not been identified at this time. Current efforts
are focused on bringing the system back to normal operations. Once that
has been accomplished, resources will be applied to determine the root
cause.
Q: What steps did we take to mitigate the performance issues?
Since July 20, our team has worked to restore operations to full
capacity. On July 23, the CCD was brought back online with limited
capacity.
The Department of State is working with Oracle and Microsoft to
implement system changes aimed at optimizing performance and addressing
ongoing performance issues.
We are increasing the number of processed cases as our systems allow.
Q: Has CA experienced these types of outages in the past?
CA has experienced minor outages in the past, but not of this magnitude.