As hundreds of H-1B visa holders have been left with no other option other than biding their time in India as the US State Department canceled maximum visa appointments of December and rescheduled them to March 2026, a request from a Redditor has gone viral. The Redditor urged fellow Indians who are in the US to cancel their appointments for January or February so that those who are stuck in India get an early chance for their visa appointments. The request resonated with many on social media as the unprecedented decision from the US administration even left immigration attorneys confused as they don’t know what should be done in the present situation.
Major fallout of visa appointment cancelations in India
- Social media vetting of H-1B candidates will begin on December 15. Consular offices in Hyderabad and Chennai process hundreds of visa appointments every day.
- The administration announced that they need to reduce the number per day as officers will now have to vet the social media accounts of every candidate and so it will take time.
- Appointments of mid-December were canceled and rescheduled to March 2026, at the earliest.
- Visa stamping is done in the home country, according to a new rule. So a number of H-1B candidates took their appointments in India and flew home, coinciding with the holiday season in the US.
- Days before their scheduled appointments, they got to know that those dates have been deferred to March, April, May etc.
- Many H-1B visa holders won’t be able to enter the US without the stamping. So they have no other option than to remain stuck in India waiting for their appointment date in 2026.
- H-1B candidates, according to lawyers, can be allowed to work from India but that also depends on their employers. And many are scared that they will lose their jobs.
- Lawyers have advised that those who are in the US and thinking of taking an appointment for visa stamping should not leave the country as the situation is volatile, and leaving the country now means they would not be able to be back for at least six months.
- A Reddit post went viral as the Redditor urged Indians in the US who have their appointments in India in January, February to cancel those appointments so that some dates free up and those who are stuck in India can possibly get an early chance.
- Many H-1B candidates in the US responded to the post saying that this could become the only solution to the visa mess now in India and many said they already canceled their dates in December, January and February.
