Visa delays leave H-1B families stranded abroad

Washington, Dec 25: Indian H-1B visa holders are facing months-long uncertainty after US consulates in India delayed appointments due to new screening requirements, a development that has triggered concern on Capitol Hill, while the Trump Administration has strongly defended its tougher vetting, arguing that this is a national security necessity.

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, said the December 3 announcement of the State Department to expand mandatory online presence reviews to all H-1B applicants and their H-4 dependents has led to sudden appointment cancellations and lengthy delays, leaving families unable to return to the United States despite having jobs, homes, and children enrolled in school.

The change came as hundreds of families had long-scheduled visa appointments aligned with year-end travel.

In a letter dated December 17 to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, she said there is “a serious issue arising throughout the country, including many families in my District whose visa appointments have been delayed multiple months and who are now stuck in limbo, unable to return home.”

Dingell cited one case in which a family’s visa appointment was rescheduled less than 48 hours before it was to take place, pushing the new date three months later without consultation.

“They had already traveled to reach their appointment, and without the new visas, they cannot get back to their lives in the United States,” she wrote, adding that one child, an American citizen, would miss months of school if the family could not move up its appointment. “They are trapped abroad with no recourse,” she wrote in her letter to Rubio.

“Our children should not be the ones paying for these policy changes with their education,” Dingell said, calling the situation unacceptable. She urged the State Department to provide clear answers on timelines and safeguards to prevent families from being left in limbo.

State Department, on the other hand, has defended the expanded screening as essential to restoring control over immigration flows and ensuring national security.

“We’re talking about going from an era in the last administration where we had hundreds of thousands of people coming into this country every single month, either legally or illegally,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News in an interview. “You cannot sustain that type of program,” while assuming proper safety and vetting standards, he asserted.