Applicants affected will receive email instructions to reschedule their appointment, the embassy said in a post on X
Police stand guard outside the US consulate in Karachi. Photo: file
The US Embassy in Islamabad has extended the suspension of its visa services until March 20, canceling all scheduled visa appointments while continuing to provide “routine and emergency services” to US citizens.
“All immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments are canceled through March 20. Affected visa applicants will receive instructions via email to reschedule their appointments,” a post on X said.
The US Embassy in Islamabad continues to serve US citizens in need of routine and emergency services.
All immigrant and nonimmigrant visa agreements are canceled through March 20. Affected visa applicants will receive instructions via email to reschedule their… pic.twitter.com/ocKQQ1un04— US Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) March 13, 2026
In addition, all consular services at the US Consulates General in Karachi and Lahore remain suspended.
This suspension comes as the US-Israeli war on Iran approaches its second week, with over 2000 people killed, mostly in Iran, by joint US-Israeli strikes. Nearly 700 have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon, where Israel has attacked central Beirut and ordered residents out of a swath of southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military warned on Friday that it would attack two areas of the Iranian capital Tehran, Villa and Moniriyeh, and asked residents to evacuate.
Read: Police, protesters clash in Karachi after Iran’s Khamenei killed in US-Israel strike
“In the coming hours, the IDF will operate in these areas, as it has done in recent days throughout Iran, to attack military infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime. Dear citizens, for your safety and well-being, we ask you to immediately evacuate the marked area,” the army wrote on its Persian-language account on X, attaching maps of the affected neighborhoods.
Earlier on Thursday, new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first comments, read out by a television host, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and urging neighboring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran attacking them.
“I assure everyone that we will not neglect to avenge the blood of your martyrs,” he said. Iranian officials have said he was slightly wounded in the initial attacks.
The leaders of Iran, Israel and the United States all expressed defiance and vowed to fight on as the war in the Middle East neared the two-week mark on Friday, killing thousands of people, disrupting the lives of millions more and roiling financial markets.
