WASHINGTON — Indian H-1B visa holders are facing months-long uncertainty after U.S. consulates in India delayed visa appointments following new screening requirements, leaving many families stranded overseas and prompting concern on Capitol Hill even as the Trump administration defends the tougher vetting as a national security necessity.
Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan said a December 3 State Department decision to expand mandatory online presence reviews to all H-1B applicants and their H-4 dependents has resulted in sudden appointment cancellations and lengthy delays, preventing families from returning to the United States despite having jobs, homes, and children enrolled in school.
The changes came as hundreds of families had already scheduled visa appointments to coincide with year-end travel.
In a December 17 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Dingell said the issue has affected families nationwide, including several in her district, who now face months-long delays and remain stuck abroad.
“There is a serious issue arising throughout the country, including many families in my District whose visa appointments have been delayed multiple months and who are now stuck in limbo, unable to return home,” she wrote.
Dingell cited one case in which a family’s visa appointment was rescheduled less than 48 hours before it was set to take place, with the new date pushed back by three months without consultation.
“They had already traveled to reach their appointment, and without the new visas, they cannot get back to their lives in the United States,” she wrote, adding that one child, a U.S. citizen, would miss months of school if the appointment could not be advanced. “They are trapped abroad with no recourse.”
“Our children should not be the ones paying for these policy changes with their education,” Dingell said, calling the situation unacceptable and urging the State Department to provide clear timelines and safeguards to prevent families from being left in limbo.
The State Department has defended the expanded screening measures, saying they are essential to restoring control over immigration flows and protecting national security.
“We’re talking about going from an era in the last administration where we had hundreds of thousands of people coming into this country every single month, either legally or illegally,” State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in an interview with Fox News. “You cannot sustain that type of program,” he said, while maintaining proper safety and vetting standards.
Pigott said that at such volumes, “it’s often impossible to have that type of vetting criteria that the American people expect,” adding that the administration is ending what he described as an era of mass migration and adopting an America-first visa policy that prioritizes national security.
“Fundamentally, visa security is border security,” Pigott said, noting that while public attention often focuses on the southwest border, visa systems must also prevent people from entering the country who could violate U.S. laws or the terms of their visas.
In her letter, Dingell asked the State Department to explain how it plans to handle cases like those in her district, including providing a timeline for the new online presence review process and estimates of how long reviews are expected to take.
She requested a response within two weeks and urged the department to reassess the policy’s impact on “vulnerable individuals and families stranded abroad.”
According to the State Department, about 95,000 visas were revoked in 2025, including more than 8,000 involving international students, highlighting the scale of enforcement actions currently underway
