One family emergency away from losing your H-1B Visa? Indian techie’s hidden fear

1. One family emergency away from losing your H-1B Visa? Indian techie’s hidden fear

One Reddit user recently shared his distressing situation: after working remotely from India for the past 1.5 months to care for a sick parent, he's now living in fear of not being allowed back into the U.S

Anxiety rises among Indian tech workers in the U.S. over H-1B visa cancellations, especially for those returning from India.(shutter stock)

The Redditor claimed he has company approval, the green light from an immigration attorney, and a valid H-1B visa stamp. Still, his confidence is shaken after learning that others in nearly identical circumstances were turned away.

“Will they let me in?” he asked on the platform.

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Notably, in recent days, a wave of anxiety is sweeping through the Indian tech community in the U.S. following troubling reports of H-1B visa cancellations, particularly targeting those who spent extended time in India.

Apparently, this fear comes in the wake of multiple H-1B visa holders being stopped at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) preclearance facility in Abu Dhabi and sent back. Reports reveals these individuals had no criminal records or status violations. The issue? They had spent what CBP deemed “too much” time in India, leading officers to claim they had “abandoned employment.”

Like one Reddit post, cited by HindustanTimes.com, claimed visas were cancelled on the spot after allegedly spending more than 60days outside the US.

“Just read a post on threads that a couple of H1-B visa holders had their visas cancelled during at the Abu Dhabi pre clearance because they stayed in India for over 2 months. Is that even true?” the post read.

However, another Redditor claiming to be an immigration officer, said, “I am the immigranation office who rejected visa in Abu Dhabi. It was due to some other problem and not due to length of stay.”

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A Thread post also reveals that three H-1b visa holder are denied entry at Abu Dhabi pre-clearance for “staying in India beyond 60 days.”

Notably, in many cases, the employees were simply working remotely with employer permission, while tending to family emergencies. But under Trump's new immigration policies legitimate H-1B holders are being left in a haze of uncertainty.