New Delhi: Pre-scheduled interviews of thousands of H-1B visa applicants slated for later this month in India have been abruptly postponed by several months, apparently to scrutinise their social media posts and online profiles.
Some of the applicants, whose visa appointments were scheduled next week, have received e-mails from US immigration authorities informing them that their interviews are being pushed back as late as May next year.
The mass cancellation of scheduled interviews of the H-1B visa applicants in view of the enhanced vetting measures is set to result in significant delays in their return to the US. The rescheduling of the interviews is for all applicants who were previously given appointments from December 15 onwards.
Most of them were already in India and are now unable to return to the US pending their new interview dates, since they don’t have a valid H1B visa to travel back to the US for their jobs.
For example, those whose interviews were scheduled for December 15 received emails postponing the date to sometime in March. Applicants whose appointments were scheduled for December 19 were given new dates in late May.
It is learnt that interviews of several other categories of visa applicants are also being postponed in view of the new norms for scrutinising the social media profiles of the applications.
The exact number of applicants impacted by the delays in the visa interviews is not immediately known.
The US embassy in India urged visa applicants not to come to the consular offices based on their previously scheduled interview date.
If you have received an email advising that your visa appointment has been rescheduled, Mission India looks forward to assisting you on your new appointment date, it said.
Arriving on your previously scheduled appointment date will result in your being denied admittance to the Embassy or Consulate, it said.
Many visa applicants put out anonymous posts on social media sharing their ordeal.
My H-1B consular appointment in Chennai, originally December 18, got cancelled right after I completed the biometrics process on Tuesday, and was auto-rescheduled to April 30, 2026, said one applicant.
Houston-based immigration attorney Emily Neumann criticised the cancellation of the H1B visa appointments in India.
Visa stamping feels like a maze of pitfalls right now. Now, appointments are getting cancelled without warning and pushed out by months.
There is no predictability in this process, and it is creating real challenges for businesses and employees who need to travel, she said on social media.
The Trump administration has been tightening the H1B visa programme under its broader policy on checking immigration. There has been wider scrutiny now of social media posts and profiles of visa applicants.
Under the H-1B visa programme, companies recruit foreign workers with specialised skills to work in the US, initially for three years, which can be renewed for three more years.
Indians made up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
In September, US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation raising the fee for H1-B visas to a staggering USD 100,000.
