Just under a week ago, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2027 H-1B cap would be opened March 4, 2026.
But with the current visa backlog still weighing down the present, it appears that some applications for the nonimmigrant work visa filed way back in 2025 still haven’t been approved in the new year.
An immigration attorney, who is an immigrant herself, took to her LinkedIn profile to share the shocking news about the extreme wait periods tied to H-1B visa approvals. Dobrina M Ustun revealed that even as everyone is gearing up for the H-1B cap for FY 2027, she only recently heard back about an H-1B approval that had to do with a visa application from last year’s cap.
H-1B approved after 9 months: Immigration attorney
The Dallas-based immigration lawyer revealed that the H-1B application she was talking about was filed from her side months ago. “We filed this H-1B in May 2025, and USCIS just approved it. No RFE. No NOID. Clean case. Smooth filing. Great outcome,” she wrote on LinkedIn.
Here, RFE refers to ‘Request for Evidence,’ an official notice indicating that USCIS needs more proof or documentation to make a decision. NOID, on the other hand, is a Notice of Intent to Deny, which means that USCIS plans to deny your application but gives you one last chance to respond with evidence that you deserve the benefit within 30 days.
“So how long did it take USCIS to adjudicate a straightforward H-1B? Almost 9 months,” noted the founder and principal attorney of Ustun Law Group.
Further addressing that while they could have paid premium processing to fast-track the process, the client wasn’t in a rush. Moreover, she added, “we didn’t feel like handing over $2,805 just because USCIS has decided that ‘normal processing’ now means ‘sometime within the next year.'”
Which ultimately led her to highlighting the “real” and “rhetorical” question at the centre of the issue: “Why does it take nine months to approve a perfectly solid H-1B with zero issues?”
H-1B crisis: Long delay stretching to 2027
Excruciating delays related to H-1B visa applications particularly came to light during the holiday season in December 2025, as US consulates postponed visa interviews initially scheduled till March 2026.
In India especially, the visa stamping interview appointments have reportedly been pushed back to 2027.
This has left many who travelled from the US to India for the holidays stuck in the South Asian country while they face extreme visa appointment waiting periods.
As a result, numerous immigration attorneys in the US are now advising work visa holders against travelling abroad, as extended delays leaving professionals stranded in India could ultimately pose the threat of job terminations in the US.