Applicants for U.S. visitor visas in Brazil woke up to good news on 10 October: real-time monitoring service AntecipaVisa recorded an unprecedented wave of same-day and next-day appointment openings across all U.S. consulates in the country. According to the platform’s 15:31 update, first available interview dates fell to 18 October in São Paulo and 20 October in Rio de Janeiro, whereas official State Department data published only a week earlier showed wait times of roughly 30 days for the B-1/B-2 category. Travel-management companies attribute the sudden availability to two factors. First, the U.S. mission has quietly added temporary Saturday slots to relieve peak-season pressure. Second, a higher-than-normal no-show rate—estimated at 12 % in September—has freed up previously booked windows. The openings coincide with Brazil’s upcoming holiday stretch, allowing thousands of leisure and corporate travellers to secure visas in time for Thanksgiving shopping trips and year-end conferences in the United States. For employers, the shorter queue is particularly significant for L-1 blanket and B-1 in lieu of H-1B applicants, who often need to travel on short notice for project kick-offs and technical support. Immigration lawyers nonetheless caution that security-related administrative processing still affects a small subset of applicants, so travellers should refrain from committing to non-refundable flights until passports are physically returned. Human-resources departments have been advised to refresh employee communications: 1) monitor cancellation trackers several times a day, 2) book medical exams immediately after securing a slot, and 3) prepare complete documentation—including DS-160 confirmation and proof of ties to Brazil—to avoid being turned away at the window. Companies that run internal global-mobility desks may wish to pre-pay the US$ 185 fee for key executives so that they can pounce on newly released dates without administrative delay. Looking forward, consular sources tell relocation specialists that Saturday shifts are tentatively scheduled to run until 30 November. If staffing permits, a further extension into early 2027 could follow, meaning the current low-wait environment may last through the high Christmas travel season—welcome relief after the backlogs that plagued Brazilian applicants in the immediate post-pandemic period.
Source: AntecipaVisa
