H1B Visa Interviews in India Postponed

A wave of cancellations hit H1 visa applicants at U.S. Consulates in India in mid-December, with many interviews scheduled in 2025 being rescheduled for April and May 2026.

The U.S. Consulates in Chennai and Hyderabad sent notifications to impacted applicants, advising them not to attend their original appointments. “Due to operational constraints related to processing these visas and to ensure that no applicants issued a visa pose a threat to U.S. national security or public safety, the U.S. Consulate in Chennai must reduce the number of applicants each day,” the consulate told applicants in an email.

Part of the delay is due to the State Department (DOS) social media policy, already applied to students and exchange visitors, now being applied to H applicants. On December 3rd, the DOS announced that it would begin to perform an “online presence” review for all new H-1B and H-4 visa interviews scheduled on or after December 15th. This involves reviewing applicants’ online presence to ensure national security and public safety. By requiring public access to social media accounts and imposing stricter vetting, the State Department may cause delays and disruptions for applicants and employers.

In early December, reports began to emerge of visa revocations issued to H-1B and H-4 visa holders. Most of the time, we see these revocations when someone is arrested and charged with a serious crime while in the US on a nonimmigrant visa. The consulate picks up on the arrest, and it triggers a revocation, sometimes within only a day or two. In the spring, the DOS started cross-analyzing the FBI’s database with ICE’s SEVIS database for F1 students. If the names were on both databases, DHS terminated the SEVIS record for the student, and DOS revoked the visa even if the underlying offense was extremely minor like speeding or driving with expired insurance. The practice slowed down once numerous lawsuits were filed against DHS/DOS, but it now appears that a similar program has been turned on H-1B and H-4 visa holders.

While the revocations have not been applied as broadly as the previous F-1 program, they seem to be using similar guidelines. Some revocations have been for minor traffic issues, while others were for conduct that had already been reviewed and cleared at prior consular interviews. With these revocations, the State Department seems to be saying that it does not care whether issues were previously reviewed and approved by a consular officer—they will revoke the visa and have the situation reviewed again under the new hardline policy of this administration.

Expanding H1B oversight and enforcement

On a similar note, as H-1B cases continue to be targeted, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is pursuing around 200 investigations under the umbrella of Project Firewall, an initiative unveiled this fall targeting violations of the H-1B program. The DOL is also boosting coordination with other regulatory agencies for reviews of the H-1B program, putting employers on notice of stricter scrutiny of foreign hiring practices. That’s led many companies to seriously invest for the first time in self-audits of documentation filed with the DOL as part of the H-1B hiring process. The DOL isn’t alone in applying new pressure to employers: a fraud unit at USCIS increased the frequency of in-person visits to workplaces over the past year.

Visa Bulletin for December 2025 is available on our website.

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES—JANUARY 2026

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS—JANUARY 2026

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