Is the US Consulate in Dubai Open for Visas? 2026 Status

Is the US Consulate in Dubai open for visas? Yes. The Consulate General in Dubai and the Embassy in Abu Dhabi are open, B1/B2 visitor visa and F, M and J student visa appointments are available, and UAE residents can book there. Interview slots are released on Friday mornings. The official calendar wait is long, and the interview waiver (dropbox) is not available to most applicants at present, so most people need an interview.

Last checked: 30 September 2026.

Is the US Consulate in Dubai open today? Status at a glance

For the interview dates themselves, see our US visa appointment wait time tracker. For the full application process, see US visa from Dubai.

The short answer is yes. B1/B2 and student visa interviews are available in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the practical issue is the length of the official calendar. Two completely separate things happened in 2026 and almost every retelling has run them together, so it helps to separate them.

This page sets out what is paused and what is not, when appointments are released, and what a person in Dubai or Abu Dhabi can realistically do about the wait. Every figure below comes from a US government source, and the sources are listed at the end.

What is paused, and what is not

The Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General in Dubai release appointments for nonimmigrant visa interviews every Friday morning between 7:30 and 11:30 local time, excluding US and UAE holidays, and additional appointments are occasionally released outside that schedule. Applicants who already hold an appointment can log in at any time and move to an earlier slot if one has opened.

The immigrant visa pause is a different thing

Separately, on 21 January 2026 the Department of State paused immigrant visa issuance to nationals of a list of countries. An immigrant visa is the one you apply for when you intend to live in the United States permanently. It is not the visa you use to attend a conference in Chicago, visit family in Texas or start a degree in Boston.

The State Department was explicit that the January action applies to the issuance of immigrant visas only and does not apply to nonimmigrant visas such as those for tourists, athletes and their families. Even for the affected nationalities, applicants may still submit applications and attend interviews, and consular appointments continue to be scheduled.

Two further measures are worth knowing about because they are often folded into the same conversation. Presidential Proclamation 10998, effective 1 January 2026, suspends or limits entry and visa issuance for nationals of 39 countries and for people travelling on documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority. Those applicants may still apply and attend an interview, but may be found ineligible. And diversity visa issuance has been paused. If you hold a passport from a listed country, check your own position before paying a fee, because visa fees are not refundable and not transferable.

What the queue actually looks like right now

The Department of State publishes the next available interview date for every post. As of 17 September 2026 the figures for the UAE are:

Two things follow from that table which most people miss. For a visitor visa the two posts are now close, with Abu Dhabi slightly longer than Dubai. For a student visa Abu Dhabi is far quicker, at about half a month against five months in Dubai. If your plans are flexible on where you interview inside the UAE, that difference is worth more than anything a service can sell you.

These numbers move. The Department of State recalculates them and they can jump in either direction when a batch of appointments is released or withdrawn. Treat any figure you read anywhere, including this one, as a snapshot with a date on it.

Where you are allowed to apply

The embassy’s current instruction to nonimmigrant applicants is to schedule the interview at the US Embassy or Consulate in their country of residence or nationality. For a UAE resident, the UAE is the country of residence, so applying here is correct. It also means that if you hold a passport from a country where the wait is shorter, applying there is a legitimate route rather than a loophole. What is not available to most people is picking an arbitrary third country because its calendar looks better.

Two rules that catch people out

Since 2 September 2025, children under 14, like adults over 79, generally have to attend the interview in person, in every visa category, including renewals. Children can no longer be covered by the Interview Waiver Program. Families who assumed the under-fives could stay at home have lost appointments over this.

The second is mundane and costs people their slot every week. You cannot bring a bag of any size into the Embassy, including a handbag, and you cannot bring a laptop or tablet. There is a small storage point for phones and similar items at the security checkpoint, but none for bags or larger electronics, and if you arrive with them you will be refused entry. Arrive no more than fifteen minutes early, carry your documents in a folder, and leave everything else in the car.

Applicants for F, M and J visas, along with several other categories, are also instructed to set the privacy on all social media accounts to public so that identity and admissibility checks can be completed.

What actually helps, and what does not

No one can create appointments that the consulate has not released, and there is no side door. What a service can do is watch every release and act on it the same day.

What genuinely moves the needle is unglamorous. Being ready to act inside the Friday release window, because appointments that appear at 7:40 on a Friday are gone long before most people check on Saturday. Keeping an existing booking and watching for a cancellation, since the system lets you move earlier at any time. Comparing Dubai against Abu Dhabi before you commit. Getting the DS-160 right the first time, because an error found at the counter costs you the appointment, not five minutes. And presenting a file that answers the officer’s question about ties and purpose before it is asked.

That is the work, and it is what our appointment service does for you. The timeframe is agreed in writing and targets about 7 working days, and our service fee is refunded if the appointment is not secured. The visa decision always belongs to the consular officer.

Applying to study rather than visit? Our US student visa from Dubai guide covers the I-20, the SEVIS fee and the much shorter student interview wait.

If you already hold an appointment, read how to reschedule a US visa appointment in Dubai or Abu Dhabi before you change it, because the number of reschedules is limited.

Frequently asked questions

Cabin crew with US trips planned should also read our visa guide for Emirates and Etihad crew.

Sources

All checked on 30 September 2026.

• US Mission UAE, Visa services and appointment scheduling information
• US Department of State, Global Visa Wait Times
• US Embassy Abu Dhabi, Information for those attending visa appointments