For the second straight year and just in time for the busy
summer travel season, the database used by the US Department of
Status (DOS) to issue travel documents crashed, creating worldwide
delays for US passport applications filed overseas and all types of
visas for foreign nationals seeking entry to the US. This
year's shutdown resulted in lengthy delays in overseas printing
of US visas and passports, as well as in large numbers of
rescheduled visa interviews.
Starting in May of 2015, problems with DOS's Consular
Consolidated Database (CDC) created an extensive backlog of
applications, the number of which, in a Catch 22, hampered efforts
to get the system back up and running. More than 200 US
consular posts issue a total of several thousand visas each day and
any downtime creates immediate backlogs and delays. The crash
of the CDC, which is used to approve, record and print visas and
other documents, impeded the ability of consular posts to perform
required national security checks prior to visa issuance, making
visa printing unavailable. Fortunately, there is no evidence
that either the 2014 and 2015 issues were security-related, and DOS
attributes the problems to hardware failures that stopped biometric
clearance requests by consular posts from reaching the CDC.
This widespread problem followed closely behind significant portal
accessibility issues for immigrant visa applications filed overseas
earlier in the year.
By early July 2015, nearly all backlogs had reportedly been
addressed. Whether this becomes a regular occurrence each
summer during the nation's busiest travel time remains to be
seen.
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