The festive season has become a time of immense distress for hundreds of Indian professionals on H-1B visas. They find themselves unexpectedly stranded in their home country after United States consular offices in India abruptly canceled their scheduled appointments for visa stamp renewals.
What Triggered the Visa Appointment Crisis?
These skilled workers, many of whom have spent years or even decades building their careers and lives in America, had traveled to India this month for a routine process: renewing their US work permits. Their plans were upended when they received emails notifying them of canceled appointments. The cited reasons were "operational constraints" and a stated need for more rigorous national security vetting procedures.
According to a report in The Washington Post, this sudden policy enforcement led to the cancellation of appointments for hundreds, potentially thousands, of high-skilled workers between December 15 and 26. Immigration attorneys confirm the move has created severe disruption, leaving employees on now-expired visas in a legal limbo and terrified of losing their jobs in the US.
Emily Neumann, a partner at the Houston-based immigration law firm Reddy Neumann Brown PC, revealed to The Post that at least 100 of her firm's clients are currently stuck in India due to these cancellations.
A Series of Aggressive Policy Shifts
This logistical nightmare is the direct result of several aggressive policy changes targeting the H-1B program under the Trump administration. The chain of events began in July when the US State Department announced a significant rule change. Starting September 2, H-1B holders and their H-4 dependent family members could no longer renew their visas from within the US or in a third country. They were mandated to return to their country of origin for the process.
Subsequently, on September 19, President Trump signed a proclamation imposing a hefty $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications. The most impactful shift came on December 3, when the administration announced substantially tougher screening rules for H-1B and H-4 visa holders. These new protocols include a review of applicants' social media histories and online activities.
The State Department defended these measures as essential for national security, emphasizing that every visa decision is treated as a security matter and reiterating that a US visa is a "privilege, not a right."
Profound Human and Professional Consequences
The fallout from these cancellations is severe and personal. While some renewal appointments are being rescheduled for March to June, the delay is extensive. Shockingly, one applicant was given a new date as far out as 2027, according to three lawyers familiar with the cases.
The hardest hit are mid-career technology professionals who have been settled in the United States for many years. Unable to return to their jobs and homes, they are now scrambling to arrange alternative work setups with their American employers, often across multiple time zones.
Families are being torn apart by painful choices. Some parents who traveled to India with their US-born or US-raised children must now decide whether to interrupt their education indefinitely or send them back to America alone. Others remain completely separated from spouses and children who stayed behind in the US.
The H-1B program, which allows foreign workers with specialized skills to live and work in the US for up to six years, has been a point of major controversy. While influential far-right supporters of the administration have called for scrapping the program, arguing it takes jobs from Americans, Silicon Valley tech executives have pushed back forcefully. They maintain that H-1B workers are crucial to the innovation and competitiveness of the tech industry.
India is disproportionately affected by these changes. An April 2025 report from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states that India has long been the biggest beneficiary of the H-1B program, accounting for a staggering 71% of all visa holders. As of September, the top corporate sponsors of these visas were tech giants Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft.
