VISA WAIT TIMES DOWN IN BRAZIL AND INDIA, UP IN MEXICO

Recently, visa wait times have been steadily decreasing for would-be event exhibitors and attendees from India and Brazil.

• By the numbers: In the last 3 months, average visitor visa appointment wait times have gonedown 211 days in India and 177 days in Brazil.

• That said, wait times remain far too long in many key international markets, including Mexico,where delays continue to rise.

Reminder, the State Department’s goal is for all U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to have wait times of 120 days or less by the end of 2023.

HOUSE BILL HAS $275 MILLION TO HELP WITH VISA DELAYS

In more good visa-related news, the House of Representatives’ proposed FY24 “State-Foreign Ops”funding bill includes $275 million of dedicated funding to help the State Department reduce passportbacklogs and visa delays.

• What it means: The proposed $275 million allocation is $25 million more than was requestedin the President’s FY24 budget, which indicates that this issue is a priority for the House.

• What’s next: The House’s proposal is just the first step in the long process to fund the federalgovernment for FY24, which may include a government shutdown beginning on October 1.

ECA remains “all in” on reducing visa wait times to help fully bring back international exhibitors andattendees to business events in the U.S. as soon as possible!

TOMORROW’S WORKFORCE COALITION LAUNCHES

Last week, ASAE launched the new Tomorrow’s Workforce Coalition, which will advocate for economicdevelopment policy that would strengthen the workforce now and in the future.

• Go deeper: The coalition will focus on the Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce bill thatwould expand qualified expenses under tax-advantaged college savings plans to includepostsecondary training and credentialing programs.

• This legislation, which was included as part of this year’s ECA Legislative Action Day asks, hasadded 22 new House co-sponsors in recent weeks!

While ECA has already joined the coalition, we encourage all alliance partners and other interested stakeholders to add their organizations to the coalition roster by clicking here. Strength in numbers!

ESCA ADVOCACY UPDATE RECAP

Thanks to Exhibit News Now for this great recap of last week’s ESCA Summer Educational Conference.