US Shutdown Threatens Visa Appointments and Limits Services in Greece

The US Embassy successful Athens. Credit: ChristosV, CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons

The governmental nonaccomplishment successful Washington to walk a last-minute backing measure has triggered a US authorities shutdown, with contiguous and applicable effects connected services provided by the US Embassy successful Greece and the US consulate successful Thessaloniki.

While the wide planetary fiscal interaction is viewed arsenic a “temporary blip,” the shutdown means an contiguous simplification successful non-essential services for some US citizens residing successful Greece and Greek citizens readying question to the United States.

US shutdown interaction successful Greece

The US Embassy confirmed that scheduled passport and visa services for some Americans and Greek applicants volition “continue arsenic the concern permits.” Because these services are fee-funded, they are often shielded from abbreviated shutdowns. However, experts pass that immoderate prolonged lapse could unit the embassy to trim staffing, starring to important delays and backlogs for caller visa appointments and renewals.

The Embassy announced that its authoritative societal media channels, including Instagram, volition not beryllium regularly updated but for “urgent information and information information.” This leaves the nationalist with constricted entree to regular information.

Like different US authorities employees globally, non-essential unit successful Greece person been placed connected unpaid leave, limiting the Embassy’s wide operational capacity.

Crucial staff, including those providing exigency services to US citizens, proceed to enactment but volition not person wage until Congress passes a backing bill.

The shutdown, the archetypal since the extremity of 2018, means that portion indispensable services (i.e. exigency assistance for US citizens) stay available, anyone with a non-urgent passport, visa, oregon wide enquiry should hole for importantly constricted effect times and show the authoritative State Department website, travel.state.gov, for the astir up-to-date operating status.