3 months ago
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Want to spell to the US but facing delays for your visa? Your are not alone! Many Indians who applied for US visas are struggling with delays, arsenic tighter scrutiny implicit societal media enactment and past arrests slows processing successful the country’s largest gross generating market.
Over the past year, much applicants person been issued 221(g) notices, impermanent visa refusals that let consular officers to verify backgrounds earlier making a decision. The inclination comes aft US President Donald Trump assumed bureau successful January 2025, tightening visa norms. Indians, who accounted for implicit 70% of H-1B visas successful FY24 according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, are among the astir affected by these measures. Section 221(g) of the US Immigration and Nationality Act allows visas to beryllium temporarily refused oregon enactment connected hold. While specified notifications are not new, experts accidental adjacent cases that antecedently would not person triggered 221(g) are present being delayed. Joel Yanovich, Attorney astatine Murthy Law Firm, told ET, “We astir apt are seeing a higher complaint of 221(g) notices. While it’s hard to quantify, the anecdotal grounds suggests that much radical are moving into further delays, adjacent aft getting successful for an appointment.”
Some denials look unprecedented nether the existent administration. Gnanamookan Senthurjothi, laminitis of the Visa Code, said, “Since May 2025, we person seen applicants with anterior apprehension records, which are implicit a decennary old, getting 221(g). This is contempt aggregate stampings they person done before.” He added that adjacent individuals with valid documents are seeing visas revoked, leaving hundreds of Indians stuck successful the country. Xiao Wang, laminitis of Boundless Immigration, told ET that galore applicants are being notified that their visas person been “prudentially revoked” without explanation. He besides reported a emergence successful biometric requests for H-1B applications, which was uncommon previously. “All applications are present taking longer for officers to evaluate, slowing down the full process. Now that they person to bash elaborate societal media vetting and enactment each lawsuit nether further scrutiny and judgment, each lawsuit is taking much time, resulting successful longer delays for each applications,” Wang explained. Appointments that were rescheduled person besides been pushed back. “We saw wide cancellations of appointments successful aboriginal December, erstwhile galore had already departed the US. These appointments were rescheduled initially for March and April but past immoderate were being pushed retired arsenic acold arsenic November,” helium added. Applicants receiving 221(g) notices are present being asked to supply further documents, including toxicology reports and constabulary records. While this represents a measurement guardant successful processing, Senthurjothi said hundreds of Indians stay affected.
