Join us to hear the latest developments at the State Department, including existing and new efforts to accelerate visa processes. Julie Stufft, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the U.S. State Department, will deliver the opening remarks and take your questions afterwards. As the head of visa services within the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Secretary Stufft helps lead the issuance of visas, including J-1 and H-1B, to foreign nationals to work in the United States.

Julie Stufft assumed the role of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in August 2021. Prior to assuming her current position, she served as Managing Director for Visa Services. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, Stufft previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission in the U.S. Embassies in Moldova and in Djibouti. Previously, she served in the National Security Council, Russia, Ethiopia, and Poland, and in the State Department Operations Center. She is a 2021-22 International Women’s Forum Fellow, and was a 2014-15 Fellow to Seminar XXI, MIT’s Center for International Studies. She is the recipient of seven Superior Honor Awards, and the American Foreign Service Association’s Award for Constructive Dissent by a Senior Officer. Julie is originally from Ohio, and holds degrees from Case Western Reserve University and Duke University. She speaks Russian, Romanian, French and Polish.

Rebecca Wall joined the State Department in 2008 and previously served in Dakar, Dhaka, Bangui, Bangkok and Djibouti. She has been working in the Visa Office in the Bureau of Consular Affairs since 2021 and manages the student and exchange visitor visa portfolio. Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she has a four-year-old daughter and a rowdy Bangladeshi street dog.