The Donald Trump administration has abruptly postponed pre-scheduled interviews of thousands of H-1B visa applicants in the country, according to reports. The affected applicants had their interviews originally scheduled from mid-December but they are now postponed to March-May 2026.
The move has been attributed to the US federal government's move to vet social media profiles of the applicants.
What is social media vetting?
While reviewing the visa application, the US immigration officials will go through the publicly available data on all the social media handles used by them in the past five years. This is to identify potential security risks or verify information submitted in applications to determine whether the individual should be allowed in the US.
Most of the affected applicants had come back to India and cannot travel back for their jobs as they don't have a valid H1B visa. Other visa categories are also impacted by the new norms for scrutinising the social media profiles.
The US embassy in India has informed applicants not to come to the consular offices based on their previously scheduled interview date.
"If you have received an email advising that your visa appointment has been rescheduled, Mission India looks forward to assisting you on your new appointment date. Arriving on your previously scheduled appointment date will result in your being denied admittance to the Embassy or Consulate," it stated.
The Trump administration has been tightening the H1B visa programme to keep immigration in check. In September, Trump signed a proclamation raising the fee for H1-B visas to $100,000.
In May, the Trump administration had temporarily halted new student visa interviews to expand social media vetting. The move was aimed at vetting foreign students in the backdrop of 2024 pro-Palestinian protests in the US.
