Indian H-1B visa workers alter travel plans amid vetting delay

Indian H-1B visa holders in the United States are delaying plans to travel back home in order to renew their visa authorisations amid reports of delays of up to 12 months for visa stamping appointments at embassies due to a new social media vetting policy.

- Shashank Mattoo

The visa appointment date changes have been linked to the new social media vetting policy for H-1B and H-4 dependent visa applications.

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Immigration firms representing Apple and Google have sent memos to employees advising them not to travel home for visa appointments given major delays, according to a Business Insider report. H-1B visa holders have been advised to avoid all international travel.

"I was planning on booking an H-1B visa interview appointment for December but this stuff happened. So I decided on pushing it by a couple of months," one young tech professional currently in the US told HT.

"Companies are recommending not to travel if you are already in the US including all big tech companies," said another professional working for a tech company who landed in India only to find their visa appointment had been shifted from December to April.