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The US Department of State has acknowledged important delays successful visa appointments astatine American embassies and consulates worldwide, including successful India, arsenic processing times agelong up to 12 months owed to enhanced screening procedures.
In a connection to Business Insider, a State Department spokesperson confirmed that consular offices are present “prioritizing thoroughly vetting each visa lawsuit supra each else” implicit the erstwhile accent connected reducing hold times.The delays person prompted Google and Apple to contented question advisories to employees holding H-1B visas and their dependents, informing them against planetary question owed to the “risk of an extended stay” extracurricular the United States.
The companies’ migration instrumentality firms sent memos this week advising visa holders who request their visas stamped for re-entry to debar leaving the country, arsenic assignment cancellations and rescheduling could permission them stranded overseas for months.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and different societal media level screening causes assignment backlog
The bottleneck stems from caller societal media screening requirements implemented by the Trump administration, affecting H-1B workers, their dependents, students, and speech visitors.
According to migration steadfast Reddy Neumann Brown PC, appointments person been postponed crossed aggregate countries including Ireland and Vietnam, with hundreds of Indian professionals reportedly stuck aft their December visa renewal appointments were abruptly cancelled.The Department of State maintains that applicants tin petition expedited appointments connected a case-by-case ground and whitethorn person their slots moved arsenic resources change.
However, the caller vetting process requires “online beingness reviews” to surface applicants who whitethorn airs nationalist information risks, importantly extending processing times beyond humanities norms.
Tech companies astir affected by H-1B disruptions
The visa delays peculiarly interaction exertion companies that trust heavy connected the H-1B program, which caps caller visas astatine 85,000 annually. During fiscal twelvemonth 2024, Google applied for 5,537 H-1B visas portion Apple sought 3,880, according to Department of Labor and USCIS information analyzed by Business Insider.
Indians relationship for implicit 70% of H-1B visas issued.Immigration lawyer Jason Finkelman advised that overseas nationals with valid visa stamps should mostly beryllium capable to instrumentality to the US, but recommended clients debar non-essential travel. “If question isn’t indispensable close now, amended to enactment put,” helium said, noting that H-1B workers stuck overseas owed to cancelled consular appointments look uncertain timelines for returning to enactment successful the United States.
