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Tel Aviv: J1 visas issued

Nonimmigrant visa: Exchange visitor

Visa services may still be limited

In February 2026, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and its office in Tel Aviv stopped normal visa services. The State Department has not said if they have started again, so check the embassy's website.

Details

On February 27, 2026, after allowing non-emergency staff to leave Israel, the State Department said that routine visa processing was not currently available at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and its Branch Office in Tel Aviv. It said applicants with interviews from March 2 to 6 would get an email about a new date when services started again. The notice is still posted, unchanged, and does not say if services have started again.

The State Department's scheduling tool has since moved the month it gives Jerusalem for spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens: from February 2026 in its April 2 update to August 2026 in its September 23 update. Check il.usembassy.gov/visas for the embassy's current status.

Source: State Department: Limited Visa Services Available at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and Branch Office in Tel Aviv.

Last checked Sep 25, 2026.

From Mar 2025 to Feb 2026, Tel Aviv issued 3,013 J1 visas, about 251 a month, about the same as the 12 months before. But it issued only 88 in January and February 2026, against about 293 a month from March to December 2025.

This counts visas issued, which shows how busy the post is, not how long you will wait. The State Department data here ends in February 2026, so it cannot show what has changed since then, such as pauses that started or ended later.

Visas issued per month
05001,0001,5002,000202420252026
Source: the U.S. Department of State’s monthly nonimmigrant visa issuance statistics.
The monthly counts are stored in JSON lines files on GitHub.