India Conveys Concern to US Over Cancellation of H-1B Visa Interviews

New Delhi: The Indian government on Friday said that it has flagged its concerns to the United States of America over cancellation of pre-scheduled H1B visa interviews of large numbers of Indian applicants. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that it remains actively engaged with the US side to minimise the disruptions caused to Indians.

The US Embassy in India on December 22 issued a “Worldwide Alert” for H-1B and H-4 applicants saying, from December 15, the Department of State expanded “online presence” reviews to all H-1B and H-4 applicants as part of standard visa screening. This screening essentially involves a review of social media profiles, public digital footprints to verify the background and intent of the applicant.

“This vetting is being conducted globally for all applicants of all nationalities for H1-B and H-4 visas. It is an effort to address abuse of the H-1B program while still permitting companies to hire the best of the best temporary foreign workers. US embassies and consulates continue to accept and process H-1B and H-4 non-immigrant visa applications. We encourage applicants to apply as early as they can and anticipate additional processing time for these visa classifications,” it said.

The interviews of thousands of H-1B visa applicants slated from the middle of December in India have been abruptly postponed by several months to scrutinise their social media posts and online profiles. Some of the applicants, whose visa appointments were scheduled last week, received e-mails from US immigration authorities informing that their interviews are being pushed back as late as May next year.

MEA said the government of India has received several representations from Indian nationals who are facing problems with their rescheduling of their visa appointments,

“Visa-related issues pertain to the sovereign domain of any country. We have flagged these issues and our concerns to the US side, both here in New Delhi and in Washington DC," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. He added that several Indians have been stranded for extended periods of time in India causing a lot of "hardships" to them and their families.

"The government of India remains actively engaged with the US side to minimise the disruptions caused to our nationals," he said.

The mass cancellation of scheduled interviews of the H-1B visa applicants in view of the enhanced vetting measures has resulted in significant delays in their return to the US. The rescheduling of the interviews is for all applicants who were previously given appointments from December 15 onwards. Most of them were already in India and are now unable to return to the US pending their new interview dates since they don't have a valid H1B visa to travel back to the US for their jobs.