He is not alone.
Thousands of Indian professionals who travelled to India for H-1B and H-4 visa renewal stamping between December and February have had their consular interview appointments abruptly postponed by several months. Some have been pushed to mid-2026; others as far out as 2027, leaving them stranded in India and staring at deep uncertainty over their jobs, immigration status, and children’s schooling in the United States.
The H-1B Conundrum
Social media platforms, particularly Reddit, are flooded with desperate posts from affected visa holders. “I came for visa stamping, and my interview was scheduled for January 9. Now it’s been rescheduled to October. I don’t think my employer will allow this,” one user wrote, pleading for someone to share an appointment slot so he could return to the US.
The rescheduling has come after the US Department of State expanded its digital vetting process to cover employment-based visas, with consular officers beginning mandatory online presence checks for H-1B workers and H-4 dependents applying for visas or renewals overseas from December 15, 2025.
Under the policy, applicants are required to keep social media accounts used over the past five years publicly accessible, allowing officers to review online activity and other publicly available information.
This additional scrutiny has triggered longer processing times, further security checks, or visa refusals in some cases, with consulates reallocating staff to manage the increased workload.
But for many, the delays have triggered panic. Several H-1B holders say they have reached out to employers to ask if they can take unpaid leave or work remotely from India. But those options are far from guaranteed.
An H1-B holder who travelled to Hyderabad for the renewal, requesting anonymity, told CNBC-TV18 that he decided to club his annual vacation with the visa renewal appointment and visit his hometown but is now stuck with his appointment rescheduled for October. He has now reached out to his employer and HR to discuss viable options.
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“My employer does not allow employees to work from India. Immigration, law and HR teams are exploring options, but this makes my situation worse,” another user on Reddit wrote.
Parents are particularly anxious. Children enrolled in US schools are missing classes, and families fear being away for months at a time. “My kids have school, and six months is a long time to be away,” one parent posted, asking if emergency appointments could help them return sooner.
Immigration lawyers have been advising H-1B visa holders to avoid any kind of travel, and many employers cannot legally allow remote work from outside the United States due to payroll, tax and export-control restrictions.
“If an H-1B worker travels now, they may return not to their job but to unemployment," Rahul Reddy, founding partner of Reddy Neumann Brown PC, wrote in a blog post, advising workers with expired visas to avoid international travel for stamping unless absolutely unavoidable, even if they already have an appointment booked.
Emergency Requests Also Denied
Lawyers also warn that if an H-1B visa holder loses their job, they will have to apply for a new job on the visa, which could trigger the new $100,000 fee, and it is unlikely that companies will shell out that fee.
US-based companies that employ H-1B workers, too, have advised employees to avoid international travel. Reuters reported that Google has asked employees who would require a visa stamp to re-enter the US not to leave the country owing to visa processing delays.
Some immigration consultants say emergency appointment requests are technically available, but approvals have been rare.
Visa services firm Sprint Visa, in a post on X, has advised applicants who have already completed biometrics to request emergency slots with supporting documentation such as employer letters or medical records.
However, immigration lawyers caution that most emergency requests are denied unless there is a genuine medical or humanitarian crisis.
"There’s been no signal from consulates about releasing fresh H-1B slots. Everything points to reduced capacity due to expanded social media review, not a temporary pause,” Henry Lindpere, Senior Immigration Attorney at Manifest Law, wrote on Reddit.
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