H1B visa interviews of Indians cancelled

Pre-scheduled interviews of thousands of H-1B visa applicants slated for later this month in India have been abruptly postponed by several months apparently to scrutinise their social media posts and online profiles.

Some of the applicants, whose visa appointments were scheduled next week, have received e-mails from US immigration authorities informing that their interviews are being pushed back as late as May next year.

The mass cancellation of scheduled interviews of the H-1B visa applicants in view of the enhanced vetting measures is set to result in significant delays in their return to the US.

The rescheduling of the interviews is for all applicants who were previously given appointments from December 15 onwards. Most of them were already in India and are now unable to return to the US pending their new interview dates since they don't have a valid H1B visa to travel back to the US for their jobs.

For example, those whose interviews were scheduled for December 15 received emails postponing the date to sometime in March.

Applicants whose appointments were scheduled for December 19 were given new dates in late May.

It is learnt that interviews of several other categories of visa applicants are also being postponed in view of the new norms for scrutinising the social media profiles of the applications.