If there’s one advice US immigration attorneys have been repeatedly sharing with H-1B visa applicants, it’s that they avoid travel outside America at the moment at all costs. While that warning was incited by several policy changes surrounding the ‘specialty occupations’ nonimmigrant visa category under the Donald Trump administration, the situation became even more complicated in the new year.
As H-1B visa holders continue to face longer delays for interview slots across US consulates in India, the appointments have been further deferred once again. This has led many applicants to face interview dates being pushed back to 2027. The major change is, in turn, endangering their employment status and sense of stability in the US.
Officials not acknowledging H-1B delay: US immigration attorneys
Speaking out about the impact of US visa appointments in India being deferred until 2027, immigration attorneys Emily Neumann and Rahul Reddy shed light on some dos and don’ts related to the matter. With both being Partners at the prominent US-based firm Reddy Neumann Brown PC, the duo often conducts live broadcasts to address current issues perturbing visa holders and applicants.
In one of their latest live sessions held online this week, Reddy and Neumann reiterated, “There are no visa appointments available, particularly for the H-1B visas and H-4 visas, until 2027.” During their interaction, Neumann pointed out that despite the drastic development, there was no official word on the delay. She alluded to the previous rule changes regarding the expansion of screening and vetting for H-1B and Dependent H-4 visa applicants from December 15 onwards.
“They’re not acknowledging anything. This, I think, still stems from their plan of social media vetting where they went back and cancelled interview appointments, saying ‘We need fewer slots as it takes us more slots to do this social media vetting,’ but they’re continuing to not open up the slots,” said attorney Emily Neumann.
‘Don’t travel outside the US’: Warning for H-1B holders
As both partners at Reddy Neumann Brown PC continued their broadcast, they also spoke out about the general “anti-immigration” sentiment prevailing in the US under the Trump government. Neumann noted how delaying such appointments by using social media vetting as an excuse had emerged as a “relatively easy way for them to keep immigrants out of the US.”
“Once you’re out, they don’t have to give you a visa appointment for you to come back,” she added.
Both attorneys ultimately addressed how the currently emerging situation was conflicting with visa applicants’ travel plans. “It’s impacting business travel. If someone needs to go for a meeting, and they can’t get an appointment, they are either choosing to be stuck outside the US or miss the meeting, so it’s impacting businesses as well,” Neumann continued.
Reiterating the same old advice they’ve been bringing up in their recent broadcasts, Indian-origin attorney Rahul Reddy said, “Do not travel outside the country. Even if you have an appointment, do not travel outside the country. Even if you already have the visa stamping, do not travel outside the country.”
He further shared that even if one’s company in the US was willing to let them work remotely for a while, travelling outside wasn’t a safe option at the moment. “Even if you have the passport stamping, do not travel outside the country… This is applicable to all nonimmigrant visa holders,” Reddy warned yet again.
H-1B visa holders stuck in India: Major overhaul
Major reports and personal accounts about H-1B holders being “stranded” in India particularly blew up in December 2025. Thousands of foreign workers on the nonimmigrant work visa got stuck in the South Asian nation due to months-long visa interview delays, pushing back the US return of many H-1B workers.
The US State Department’s social media vetting sweep particularly hit the visa holders as the policy suddenly went into effect mid-December, which is when many travel to visit their relatives during the holiday season.
One such case highlighted in a Bloomberg Law report showed this week that an H-1B holder working in Chicago travelled to India in November. Although it was initially intended to be a short trip, his consular interview originally scheduled for late December was pushed to June 2027 and then cancelled entirely.
The H-1B worker further opened up to the outlet, saying that his position will be terminated if doesn’t return by March. In case he wants to switch to a new US sponsor for his H-1B after that, it would mean that the new employer would have to pay the $100,000 fee the Trump admin imposed on new H-1B petitions last year.
“So losing my job in this situation doesn’t just mean unemployment. It can mean the end of my U.S. career—permanently,” he told Bloomberg. “Right now it genuinely feels like everything I built over seven years is collapsing because I took one flight home to see my parents.”
With the new $100,000 fee being introduced in September, Handshake, a student career platform cited by Bloomberg, reported in November that H-1B sponsorship had swiftly dropped to 1.9% in 2025 from 10.9% in 2023. And so, the impact of the multiple policy changes related to H-1B visas is showing in real time.