Panic and confusion has gripped hundreds of US H-1B visa applicants in India after the Trump administration rolled out new rules requiring them to submit their social media for vetting.
Applicants have received abrupt emails from American consulates informing that their interviews stood scrapped or pushed likely into next year.
The new rules mark the latest setback for Indian H-1B visa holders, who constitute over 70 per cent of all recipients. Mr Trump previously imposed a series of stringent restrictions on the H-1B programme as part of his “America First” agenda. The changes, introduced gradually over the past year, disproportionately hit Indian migrants who formed the largest cohort of skilled workers entering the North American on H-1B visas.
The latest directive requires all H-1B and H-4 applicants to “adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to public”.
This will enable the State Department to use “all available information” to identify visa applicants who are “inadmissible”, or who may “pose a threat to US national security or public safety”, the notification states.
“Every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” it declares.
The new rules come into effect on 15 December.
The US embassy in India said that anyone who arrived for an interview on a previously scheduled date would be denied entry as it urged applicants to book fresh slots. “If you have received an email advising that your visa appointment has been rescheduled, Mission India looks forward to assisting you on your new appointment date,” it said.
The move unleashed chaos across US consulates in the South Asian country.
Appointments set for mid-to-late December – particularly in high-volume centres such as Hyderabad and Chennai – were cancelled en masse, with officials citing “operational constraints” and the need for expanded background checks.
The sudden policy shift triggered widespread panic among thousands of Indian H-1B workers currently in the country. Many had returned for holidays, weddings or family emergencies, expecting to complete routine visa-stamping interviews and get to the US in time.
The American embassy’s social media posts were inundated with anxious comments.
One applicant, Amol Borkar, said he was scheduled for an interview on 23 December and had hoped to return to the US by early January.
“How do I head back to US now?” he asked. “Need help as I was here for vacation and the visa extension interview.”
Another applicant, Paridhi Gulati, said her appointment had been pushed to June 2026 while her husband’s remained unchanged.
“I have an 11-month-old daughter. We’ll have to stay separated for six months,” she wrote. “The child needs both parents. Please allow us to reschedule earlier — this is really stressful.”
Others described getting caught out by India’s ongoing air travel disruptions. One X user said he missed his interview after being stranded by IndiGo’s flight cancellation crisis last week and was now unable to reschedule because of the new rules.
Immigration lawyer Ellen Freeman said the US consulate in Hyderabad was now “mass rescheduling” H-1B appointments.
“H-1B workers will lose their jobs now that they are stuck in India,” Mr Freeman said on LinkedIn.
“We have to plead with employers to let them either work from India or take prolonged leave of absence for as many as 5 months.”
She said it would mean layoffs of workers who were unable to return on time as many employers would not be able to wait.
“People left their apartment leases, utility bills, car payments in the US. The prolonged delay in these visa cancelations will have a devastating effect on our communities and economy,” she said.
“There are human stories behind each visa cancelation and its harsh impact on our colleagues, clients, friends, relatives.”
She said the information technology hubs of India, Chennai and Hyderabad, were the worst affected by the policy shift.
The latest policy spells further trouble for H-1B visa holders already reeling from stricter rules enforced earlier.
The Trump administration earlier this year hiked H-1B visa fees to $100,000 for new applicants.
This came after the US deported hundreds of Indians, living illegally in the country or with expired visas, as part of Mr Trump’s crackdown on illegal migration.
Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar told the parliament last week that Washington had deported 3,258 Indian nationals since January.
