Puneet Sharma (name changed), a director at a Big Tech firm in the US, travelled to India in December for his H-1B visa extension appointment and to attend a cousin’s wedding. His visa interview, originally scheduled for December 24, 2025, has now been postponed to July. Sharma remains stranded in the country, while his wife and two children—an eight-year-old daughter and a three-month-old son—remain in Palo Alto, California. Despite lawyers trying to expedite the process, there has been no change in his status.
Ruma Saha, a data science engineer in Dallas, Texas, plans to get married in India in May. However, her lawyer has advised her to defer the wedding until the end of the year, given the prevailing uncertainty over visa stamping and delays.
“All our bookings are set for a destination wedding in Banaras. We’re unsure how to proceed. Postponing means a significant financial loss,” she told AIM.
Theirs are among thousands of cases of Indians either stranded in their home country or forced to postpone travel plans as the recent changes in H-1B visa rules come into full effect, disrupting lives across continents.
Policy Whirlwind
In September last year, US President Donald Trump introduced a one-time $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas, aimed at prioritising top-tier, high-salary roles. In addition, the US Department of Homeland Security replaced the visa lottery system with a wage- and skill-based weighted selection process, making it harder for entry-level roles.
The move is likely to impact Indian workers seeking temporary US employment, as Indians constituted the largest share of H-1B visa holders worldwide in 2023 and 2024, accounting for over 70% of approvals.
Also, in December, the Trump administration required applicants and their family members travelling with them to make their social media profiles public for review, allowing officials to identify potential security threats.
In response, leading tech companies, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, and ServiceNow, issued travel advisories to H-1B workers, advising them against travelling outside the US. While ServiceNow warned that employees travelling to India for visa stamping risk “significant delays in securing an appointment,” Microsoft cautioned that emergency appointments are “highly unlikely” to be approved.
The visa changes have caused great distress to Indian H-1B visa holders.
“My husband and I came to India in the first week of December 2025. Our consular appointments were cancelled the day after landing and rescheduled to May 2026. The employer helped with emergency appointment requests but even with that our appointments only moved to March. We are currently in India with a child. It has been extremely stressful (sic),” wrote an H-1B visa holder on Reddit recently.
She noted that while appointment cancellations had stopped, there were no new slots for regular or emergency appointments.
An Uncertain Future
Senthil Kumar K, Managing Attorney at Murthy Immigration Services, noted that approvals are being unnecessarily stalled. He said that many Indian H‑1B workers who travelled to India for a brief holiday and routine visa stamping now find themselves stranded because their consular interviews have been postponed by several months—in some cases even to 2027.
“Extended postponements make continuity of employment uncertain, as most US employers cannot hold positions open indefinitely. Applicants with prior arrest records are increasingly placed in administrative processing, even when previous visas were granted after full disclosure and case resolution,” he told AIM.
He also observed an increase in “prudential” visa revocations for applicants with prior arrests, including cases previously cleared for visas. He advises clients to avoid non-essential international travel. “These are challenging times for H-1B workers, even those with stable employment. Travel outside the US carries the risk of indefinite delays and uncertainty regarding return.”
Lawyers suggest the ‘Temp Work Assignment’ option for people working for companies with offices in India. It allows an employee to work for 185 days from India on a US payroll. Without that, one can only work for two weeks on an H-1B visa; after that, they have to take a leave of absence.
“Visa issuance is an internal policy matter for the US, and there are clear limits on how much external actors can influence such decisions. While diplomatic efforts may continue in the background, applicants should be realistic about the time it may take for the situation to improve,” Senthil clarified.
Meanwhile, Ellen Freeman, Managing Partner at Ellen Freeman Immigration Law Group, PLLC, questioned why technologies like artificial intelligence and other automated background checks aren’t being used to expedite the process, especially since delays began before December 15. “Some clients had appointments as early as December 8, yet they were delayed. Biometric appointments were often followed by months-long gaps before the actual interview. Appointments are now being pushed into mid-2027.”
Many of these applicants have already undergone extensive checks. Before the recent rule changes, they would have been eligible for a mail-in visa and wouldn’t have needed in-person interviews.
While India has raised concerns over visa delays affecting its nationals, the current state of geopolitics and demand for specialised talent may be tilting the US visa policy in favour of some nations.
Favouritism towards China?
Freeman confirmed that her Chinese clients are facing no delays in H-1B visa approvals. “I advised two Chinese clients to cancel travel plans during the New Year, anticipating general H-1B delays. They were surprised because they had already received their visa approvals. The social media vetting and extreme appointment delays at Mission India seem to disproportionately affect Indian H-1B workers,” she told AIM.
While Indians form the vast majority of H-1B visa holders worldwide, China ranks second, with approximately 46,680 H-1B visa approvals in 2024, accounting for 11.7% of the total.
The US State Department does not offer concrete numbers for H-1B visa interview waiting times. However, one can get a sense of the delay by looking at the B1/B2 visa categories for temporary business or leisure travel.
While applicants in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou had waiting times of one month or less for B1/B2 visas, it was a different story in India. In Delhi, the waiting period is nine months, as of mid-December 2025. In Mumbai and Chennai, it’s 7 months, while in Hyderabad, applicants have to wait for four months to get an interview.
The US’s softening stance towards China may be explained by the postponement of new export controls, dialling down of threats to Taiwan’s political engagements, and calming tariff-related market fears.
Beyond Asia, the UK and Canada are expected to benefit from these rule changes, as any gaps in tech employment may be filled by immigrants from these countries with an easier visa process.
However, for Indian workers and students in the US, any silver lining is yet to appear.
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