The Donald Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration has led to concerns for many in India. H-1B and H-4 holders are now facing unprecedented delays in their appointments as social media vetting began since December 15. This has caused concerns among many.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of high-skilled workers had their appointments canceled between December 15 and 26, which many H-1B holders target because it is holiday season in the US, The Washington Post reported. A large chunk of H-1B holders from India are tech professionals working in the US.
The State Department reportedly told visa holders their appointments were being delayed ‘to ensure that no applicants … pose a threat to US national security or public safety.’
However, the sudden spate of cancelations has upended plans and lives of many. Emily Neumann, a partner at the Houston-based immigration firm Reddy Neumann Brown PC told WaPo that she had at least 100 clients stranded in India. An immigration attorney in India, and another in Atlanta also told the publication they had more than a dozen similar cases.
H-1B appointment schedule causes frustrations
Naturally, the delays have caused frustrations among many. A lot of tech workers are in their 30s and 40s, and have lived in the US for years. They are now rushing to work out alternate arrangements with their companies that’ll let them work from India. Some who have traveled with their kids have to take a call on whether to keep the children in US schools or take them out and enroll them in India.
A bulk of the renewal appointments are now being rescheduled between March and June with one applicant even getting a 2027 makeup date, as per the Post. One of the lawyers the publication spoke to, said that her clients were ‘devastated’.
An Indian living in the suburbs of Detroit had traveled home to attend a wedding. The engineer had consular appointments on December 17 and 23 to renew his H-1B visa. However, he got an email from the State Department, which said his appointment had been moved to July 2. He told the Post that he had a wife, on a H-1B visa, and a son who was five years old, already living there. “I was like ‘OK, What do I do?’,” the publication reported him say.
The man also tried to get an expedited appointment showing that projects he was working on for his company were ramping up the next year. However, the immigration lawyers the Post spoke to said such exemptions were rare.
A parent on social media expressed their frustration with the visa appointment schedule changes, saying “the US visa scheduling website has now turned into a Minecraft game.”
The State Department told the publication “while in the past the emphasis may have been on processing cases quickly and reducing wait times, our embassies and consulates around the world, including in India, are now prioritizing thoroughly vetting each visa case above all else.”