The Trump administration has implemented stricter regulations for US visa applicants, notably impacting Indian H-1B holders who have traveled to India for visa stamping at consular offices.
U.S. Department of State has announced that starting December 15, 2025, all H-1B and H-4 visa applicants must complete an online presence review to meet specific standards for their applications.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in India on December 9 communicated that visa appointments in India are being cancelled and rescheduled for a later date, even though this new social media screening requirement would take effect next week.
H-1B visa holders in the United States have to go to their home country due to the termination of in-country stamping. Several H-1B visa holders on social media mentioned that they arrived in India for consular appointments, only to receive rescheduling emails.
In an interview with Financial Express Online, Swayamjeet Das, Co – Founder, Kovon, a global talent mobility platform, discussed this recent development and the reasons behind it.
Why is rescheduling of visa appointments happening mainly with Indian applicants? Any other country impacted?
The majority of the impact in this case is on Indian applicants because India operates one of the largest U.S. visa workloads in the world. Therefore, even small operational changes in India can create large visibility.
U.S. consulates in India processed a record 1.4 million visas in 2023 (the most ever processed), as well as issued 20% of all U.S. global student visas and issued more than 70% of all approvals for H-1B visas.
Due to this enormous demand, India is effectively a “system stress amplifier”. Thus, every time there are changes to the staffing rotation, scheduling changes, or backend software updates, it is expected that there will be widespread rearranging of appointment times for applicants from India.
In addition, several other countries, such as Nigeria, Brazil, and Mexico, have also experienced large-scale rescheduling as a result of global operational updates; however, the extraordinary number of applicants in India serves to heighten the perception of the impact as it relates to India due to its magnitude.
Will this apply to all visa applicants, including fresh B1/B2 and F-1, or only H-1B renewals?
The recent wave of rescheduling for visa appointments is structural in nature, meaning that it impacts both new visa applicants and those seeking to renew their current visas. Consulates in the United States assign visa interview appointments based on a combined staff pool.
The consulates in India receive an extremely high number of visa applications for multiple categories: more than 200,000 F-1 student visa applications each year; over 800,000 B1/B2 visit visa applications; and a large volume of other work-based visas, such as H-type visa applications for employees and dependents.
When there is a significant increase in demand for one or more categories, such as the recent spike in F-1 visa applications in August, before the start of academic classes, consulates redistribute their available appointment schedules across all categories of visa applicants.
For instance, the U.S. Embassy in India recently reported a year-on-year increase of more than 60% in demand for student visas; this resulted in the need to reallocate the appointment schedules of all visa applicants.
Why do H-1B holders need to travel to India? Is it only for renewals after three years?
H-1B workers must travel abroad for stamping because the U.S. no longer offers in-country visa stamping; the last domestic program ended in 2004, and the limited 2024–25 pilot covers only select cases.
India accounts for roughly 73–75% of all H-1B approvals, and mobility among tech workers is very high—nearly 40% change employers at least once. Each employer change requires a new visa stamp if the individual travels internationally.
Therefore, there are many reasons H-1B holders must go to India, for events such as family functions, medical emergencies, or personal obligations, in addition to the necessity to obtain a new visa stamp upon re-entry to the U.S. from the trip.
Therefore, the need for stamping is not limited to the standard three-year renewal cycle. It is also driven by employer changes, family visits, urgent travel, and unforeseen events—making sudden rescheduling particularly disruptive for H-1B holders caught in India.
