'Several People Stranded, Families Separated Across Continents': India Flags H-1B Delays With US |
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New Delhi: India has raised concerns with the US over delays and disruptions faced by Indian nationals following changes to the H-1B visa review process, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday (December 26).
Speaking at a weekly press briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the government has received numerous representations from Indian nationals facing problems with rescheduled visa appointments and has flagged these issues to US authorities both in New Delhi and Washington DC.
“There are several people who have been stranded for an extended period of time because of scheduling or rescheduling issues of consular appointments, and these have also caused a lot of hardship to their family life, as also to the education of their children,” he said.
The disruptions follow the US government’s December 15 expansion of “online presence review” protocols to all H-1B specialty occupation visa applicants and their H-4 dependents. The enhanced vetting, which requires visa seekers to make their social media profiles public, has caused confirmed appointments to be abruptly rescheduled – in some cases