US suspends routine visa services in most nations due to Covid-19 pandemic

The United States is suspending routine visa services in most countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department announced late Wednesday.

It said embassies and consulates in "most countries worldwide... will cancel all routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments as of March 18, 2020." It did not specify which countries would be exempted from the suspension, which was in response to "worldwide challenges" related to the deadly pandemic.