Waiting for a Visa

Our nieces want to visit us here in the US. One lives in Sweden; the other lives in Denmark. They were born in Iran. They are the daughters of my husband’s brother. We visited them and their family in Iran in 1996 and then again in 2009. A lot has happened since then. Each of them married and moved to Sweden and Denmark. We visited Denmark around 2014 and the other sister who lives in Sweden joined us there. We have stayed in touch all of these years. So it makes sense that they might want to visit the US. They are both naturalized citizens of their respective countries. Usually one doesn’t need a visa to travel to the US from Sweden or Denmark. But because they were born in Iran and have family in Iran, they visit them routinely - most often to visit their mother and most recently to attend their brother’s wedding. And since they have traveled to Iran within the last five years, they need visas to get in to the US. So they inquired at the embassy about the process. The first available appointment is next July 2023. And then it would be another six months to learn if they would be granted visas. Each of them has reason to return to their county as each has a young child at home. With the pandemic taking another surge we aren’t too disappointed they aren’t able to come now because we would be stuck in the house. And who knows what will be going on a year from now? All I know is that it can be difficult to travel for our family when they are associated at all with Iran - even if they don’t live there anymore. Aren’t we lucky?