New US vetting rules trigger H‑1B interview delays; India intervenes
India on Friday said it flagged its concerns to the US over the cancellation of pre-scheduled H1B visa interviews of a large number of Indians and that both sides are engaged on the issue to address the disruptions caused by Washington ordering enhanced vetting of applicants. The interviews of thousands of H-1B visa applicants scheduled from the middle of this month in India have been abruptly postponed by several months to scrutinise their social media posts and online profiles.
Some of the applicants, whose visa appointments were scheduled last week, received e-mails from US immigration authorities informing them that their interviews are being pushed back as late as May next year.
“The government of India has received several representations from Indian nationals who are facing delays or problems with rescheduling of their visa appointments,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.
“While we do understand that visa-related issues pertain to the sovereign domain of any country, we have flagged these issues and concerns of our nationals to the US side, both in New Delhi and in Washington DC. We hope that these delays and the disruptions will be addressed,” Jaiswal said. India remains actively engaged with the US to “address and minimise the disruptions caused to our nationals”.
The Trump administration’s policy impacted H-4 visa applicants as well. The H-4 visa holders are primarily spouses of H-1B visa workers. “There are several people who have been stranded for extended periods of time because of scheduling and rescheduling of consular appointments,” Jaiswal added. He said the disruptions in the visa appointment schedule have caused “a lot of hardships” to the applicants, their families, as well as the education of their children.
The mass cancellation of scheduled interviews of the H-1B visa applicants in view of the enhanced vetting measures has resulted 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 H-1B 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 Trump administration has been tightening the H-1B 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 percent 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 H-1B visas to a staggering USD 100,000. There is a possibility of H1B visa seekers facing a more challenging situation in the future. US Vice President J D Vance, a few days ago, said that the Trump administration has worked to restrict H-1B visas as it believes it is wrong for companies to “bypass American labour just to go for cheaper options in the third world”.
To a question on the proposed trade deal between India and the US, Jaiswal said both governments remain engaged with a view to concluding a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement.
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