The consul general of the United States (US) Embassy in the Philippines said that the visa application processing was “almost” back to normal levels after several months of backlogs created by the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors.

Mark McGovern, consul general of the US Embassy in Manila, posted on Twitter about the visa operations and wait times in the embassy.

“Thanks to the hard work of our kahanga-hangang consular team here at the US Embassy (Thanks to the hard work of our admirable consular team here at the US Embassy),” he said in a video message posted by US Embassy in Manila last weekend.

“We are happy to report that we have significantly reduced visa interview appointments wait times over the last several months,” he stated, adding that the visa processing “visa is rebounding is faster than we even had projected.”

McGovern reported that the embassy processed “more than twice as many non-immigrant visas in 2022 as in 2021.”

This meant that those applying for business or tourist travels, they could get their appointments “within the next few months.”

Processing for immigrant visas is also “now almost back to normal levels.”

“And for immigrant visas, we are now at pre-pandemic wait times for almost all categories. We are working hard to continue reducing wait times as quickly as possible,” the official said.

Noting that traveling to the US is important for Filipinos and also for the United States, McGovern underscored how “travel for family, business, and tourism strenghtens the vital people to people relationships that connect our two countries.”

“The good news is that our operations are on the way back to normal and it is wonderful to see the smiling faced and feel the energy of the more than 1,000 visa applicants we see everyday,” he said.

“Seeing this is a great representation of the relationship between the US and the Philippines,” the consul general furthered.

US consulates around the world had suffered from visa interview and processing backlogs because of the Covid-19 pandemic—restriction on traveling to the US, social distancing in consular offices that limited the number of applicants seen each day, and drop in revenues generated from visa application fees that disabled consulates from hiring for new positions.