The US government shared a ‘worldwide alert’ for H-1B visa applicants on Monday amid continued chaos during interviews. The Donald Trump administration had introduced new social media screening rules in mid-December — sparking massive delays and leaving some applicants stranded in their home countries.
“US embassies and consulates continue to accept and process H-1B and H-4 nonimmigrant visa applications. We encourage applicants to apply as early as they can and anticipate additional processing time for these visa classifications,” the US Embassy for India explained via X.
The worldwide alert message also reiterated the recent change of policy — noting that the Department of State had “expanded online presence reviews to all H-1B and H-4 applicants as part of standard visa screening”. The social media update emphasised that the new procedures were being conducted for “all applicants of all nationalities” who had applied for visas under these two categories. The Trump government has touted the change as its bid to “address abuse of the H-1B program while still permitting companies to hire the best of the best temporary foreign workers”.
Expanded curb, $100,00 fee and more
The H-1B visa program — widely used by the US technology sector to hire skilled workers from India and China — has been under the spotlight after the Trump administration imposed a $100,000 fee for new applications this year. Additional curbs have also forced applicants to open up their social media profiles and face multiple changes to the selection process.
Social media vetting began earlier this month, with the US directing all H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependents to set their online profiles to ‘public’. Mass cancellations have since been reported from various centres in India as dates were pushed back till June 2026. The situation has also left many H-1B visa holders ‘stranded’ in India after they flew back to renew their documents.
H-1B visa holders ‘stuck’ in India
According to a Washington Post report, hundreds (possibly thousands) of highly skilled workers had their appointments cancelled over the past two weeks. Lawyers told the publication that these H-1B visa holders had travelled back to India in December to renew their work permits. They became ‘stranded’ in the country as US consular offices abruptly cancelled their appointments and rescheduled for months later. Emails viewed by the Washington Post also included updates shared by the State Department — explaining that interviews had been delayed following the implementation of a new social media vetting policy.
