Antony Blinken travel tips

The U.S. Department of State will expand the number of passport agencies, centers and acceptance facilities to keep up with the growing number of Americans with passports.

The U.S. is on pace to attract 90 million visitors by 2026, a year ahead of the State Department’s goal, according to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

Qatar has been added to the United States Visa Waiver Program, meaning citizens of both countries can visit the other visa-free. The small Arab state is the first country to be added this year and the only country in the Gulf region on the list.

The U.S. State Department’s online passport renewal program will go live September 18, according to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma.

The trade group representing the U.S. airline industry is asking the federal government to pause the expansion of passenger flights to China due to the “existing harmful anti-competitive policies of the Chinese government.”

The U.S. airline industry is asking the federal government to pause the expansion of passenger flights to China, citing “anti-competitive policies of the Chinese government.”

The U.S. Travel Association is praising President Joe Biden's administration this winter after the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security moved to extend the visa interview waiver authority for low-risk applicants ahead of its previous December 31 expiration.The decision comes one month after the organization sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas urging both agencies to extend the visa interview waiver authority, which gives consular officers the discretion to waive in-person interviews for certain low-risk nonimmigrant visa applications.These eligible applicants have previously visited the U.S. and are still subject to the same strenuous background checks and screening that all nonimmigrants receive.

Passport processing times have returned to pre-pandemic levels, the State Department said Monday — it now takes just six to eight weeks for a passport, or two to three weeks for an expedited one. 

It’s never been more stressful to obtain or renew a passport. Officials are working through a deluge of passport applications, which began pouring in earlier this year and has caused major delays in processing times.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the committee’s top Republican urged the Biden administration to halt Chinese airlines and other non-American carriers from flying over Russia on U.S. routes.

U.S. visitor visa wait times remain over 400 days on average for first-time visa applicants from top inbound markets, according to the U.S. Travel Association.

The United States and China agreed to consider expanding commercial flights between the two countries to improve people-to-people contact, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said on Wednesday.

The U.S. and China will approve twice the number of passenger flights currently permitted for air carriers to fly between the two countries, the Biden administration said on Friday, in a rare sign of cooperation between the world’s largest two economies.

Need to renew your passport for a summer trip? It may already be too late. The US State Department recently revealed that it is currently facing “unprecedented demand” for passports as post-pandemic travel returns.