MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In addition to 85 calendar days allotted for visitor visa applicants, Russian citizens applying for student or exchange visitor visas are required to wait 36 calendar days before an interview, according to the State Department.
Appointments for other non-immigrant visa categories are made in 53 days.
In comparison, visitor visa appointment waiting times in other countries break down as follows: four calendar days at the US Embassy in Kiev and Beijing, eight days in Tbilisi, 23 days in Astana and Cairo, and 43 days in Tashkent.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier in the dat that Moscow is considering possible response to Washington's move.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on July 28 suspended the use of all US Embassy warehouses and its compound in Moscow and also offered the US to cut down the number of its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people by September 1. The move came amid a new US anti-Russia sanctions bill and follows a series of restriction measures imposed by Washington since 2014. It is similar to Washington's decision to expel 35 Russian diplomats and suspend the use of diplomatic assets by Moscow in late 2016.
On July 30, President Vladimir Putin said the US would have to cut its diplomatic presence by 755 people.
