On June 15, 2015, the Department of State (DOS) announced that the Bureau of Consular Affairs is currently experiencing technical problems with its visa systems, which have resulted in delays in printing visas and the possible rescheduling of visa interviews.  The affected visa systems perform required national security checks before issuance of visas.  In particular, DOS stated that a hardware failure on June 9, 2015 stopped the flow of biometric clearance requests from U.S. consular posts to the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD), which supports worldwide visa and passport verification and processing.  Until the database is restored and functional, U.S. citizens and foreign nationals abroad requiring certain consular benefits, particularly those who submitted online applications or were interviewed for visas on or after June 9, 2015, may face significant delays.