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Google and Apple advised US-based employees connected enactment visas not to question internationally aft their extracurricular counsel warned of delays of up to 12 months astatine US embassies and consulates worldwide amid the migration crackdown, documents reviewed by Business Insider show.
On Thursday, BAL Immigration Law, which represents Google, sent a memo stating, “Please beryllium alert that immoderate US Embassies and Consulates are experiencing important visa stamping assignment delays, presently reported arsenic up to 12 months.” It added that employees would “risk an extended enactment extracurricular the US” if they travelled without a valid stamp. Last week Fragomen, acting for Apple, issued a akin warning. “Given the caller updates and the anticipation of unpredictable, extended delays erstwhile returning to the US, we powerfully urge that employees without a valid H-1B visa stamp debar planetary question for now,” the memo said.
“If question cannot beryllium postponed, employees should link with Apple Immigration and Fragomen successful beforehand to sermon the risks.
” American consulates and embassies astir the satellite person reported regular visa assignment delays since the instauration of a caller societal media screening requirement, which applies to H-1B visa workers and their dependents, arsenic good arsenic students and speech visitors. A Department of State spokesperson told Business Insider connected Friday that it was conducting “online beingness reviews for applicants.”
The spokesperson said appointments whitethorn beryllium moved arsenic resources change, and applicants tin petition expedited slots connected a case-by-case basis.
“While successful the past the accent whitethorn person been connected processing cases rapidly and reducing hold times, our embassies and consulates astir the world, including successful India, are present prioritizing thoroughly vetting each visa lawsuit supra each else,” the spokesperson added. Immigration steadfast Reddy Neumann Brown PC reported that appointments successful Ireland and Vietnam had besides been postponed. Google’s memo noted that H-1B, H-4, F, J and M visa stamping was affected. Neither company’s advisory addressed however individuals already overseas with postponed appointments should proceed. A Google spokesperson declined to comment. Apple did not instantly respond to a petition for remark from Business Insider.A Department of State spokesperson emphasised that consular officers “do not contented a visa unless the applicant tin credibly show they conscionable each requirements nether US instrumentality — including that they mean to prosecute lone successful activities accordant with the presumption of their visa.” The H-1B programme, capped astatine 85,000 caller visas a year, serves arsenic a cardinal pipeline for employers hiring skilled overseas workers. Under the Trump medication the programme became a governmental flashpoint, with critics and immoderate employers arguing that caller policies—including a Rs 83 lakh interest connected caller H-1B visas (approx)—have made it harder and much costly to prosecute overseas talent. During the 2024 govt fiscal twelvemonth Alphabet, Google’s genitor company, applied for 5,537 H-1B visas, portion Apple applied for 3,880, according to Business Insider’s investigation of Department of Labor and US Citizenship and Immigration Services data.
