Alphabet’s Google and Apple quietly urged thousands of staff members who hold temporary U.S. visas to postpone holiday trips abroad after immigration law firms warned that visa-stamping appointments at many American embassies are now backed up as long as 12 months.
Internal e-mails seen by Reuters show that Google’s outside counsel, BAL, singled out H-1B specialty-occupation workers and their H-4 dependents, as well as F-1 students converting to H-1B status, J-1 exchange visitors and M-1 vocational students. Anyone who leaves the United States before renewing a visa risks being stranded overseas until an interview slot opens. The advice follows a mid-December policy shift by the Trump administration that requires consular officers to comb through five years of social-media history for most employment-based applicants—a manual review process that has dramatically slowed scheduling.
The squeeze comes at the height of the year-end travel season and just weeks before the FY-2026 H-1B cap lottery opens in March. Although most tech giants switched to remote work during the pandemic, today’s hybrid schedules still require key engineers to be on-site for hardware testing, lab access and classified projects. HR managers fear that sudden absences could derail product roadmaps and client deliverables, while employees risk project reassignments or even lay-offs if they become stuck abroad.
![Tech giants tell U.S. visa-holding employees to stay put as consular wait times hit one year]()
For those who decide travel is unavoidable, platforms such as VisaHQ can help cut through the red tape by tracking real-time consulate wait times, pre-checking documentation, and arranging courier pickup once a passport is stamped. Their U.S. resource hub at https://www.visahq.com/united-states/ also provides alerts on policy changes and interview-waiver programs, giving employers and visa holders an extra layer of assurance in an unpredictable environment.
Immigration attorneys say the delays are global but most acute in India, Ireland and Vietnam, where entire “drop-box” sessions have been cancelled with 48-hour notice. BAL reports that some Indian professionals who traveled home for weddings in early December have already seen January appointments pushed to next August. While emergency expedite requests are possible, they are granted sparingly and require extensive documentation.
Practical tips for employers include freezing non-essential travel through Q1 2026, shifting critical talent to visa-free Canadian or Mexican border posts for short projects, and building remote-work contingencies into client contracts. Foreign nationals who must travel are urged to book the earliest available appointment—even if it is months out—so they have a place in line, and to monitor fraud-alert e-mails from the State Department that may signal further postponements.
Longer term, companies are lobbying the White House and Congress to restore pandemic-era interview-waiver authority and to scrap the new $100,000 H-1B filing surcharge that took effect in September, arguing that America’s competitiveness will suffer if foreign talent opts for Canada, the U.K. or the Gulf states instead.
Internal e-mails seen by Reuters show that Google’s outside counsel, BAL, singled out H-1B specialty-occupation workers and their H-4 dependents, as well as F-1 students converting to H-1B status, J-1 exchange visitors and M-1 vocational students. Anyone who leaves the United States before renewing a visa risks being stranded overseas until an interview slot opens. The advice follows a mid-December policy shift by the Trump administration that requires consular officers to comb through five years of social-media history for most employment-based applicants—a manual review process that has dramatically slowed scheduling.
The squeeze comes at the height of the year-end travel season and just weeks before the FY-2026 H-1B cap lottery opens in March. Although most tech giants switched to remote work during the pandemic, today’s hybrid schedules still require key engineers to be on-site for hardware testing, lab access and classified projects. HR managers fear that sudden absences could derail product roadmaps and client deliverables, while employees risk project reassignments or even lay-offs if they become stuck abroad.
For those who decide travel is unavoidable, platforms such as VisaHQ can help cut through the red tape by tracking real-time consulate wait times, pre-checking documentation, and arranging courier pickup once a passport is stamped. Their U.S. resource hub at https://www.visahq.com/united-states/ also provides alerts on policy changes and interview-waiver programs, giving employers and visa holders an extra layer of assurance in an unpredictable environment.
Immigration attorneys say the delays are global but most acute in India, Ireland and Vietnam, where entire “drop-box” sessions have been cancelled with 48-hour notice. BAL reports that some Indian professionals who traveled home for weddings in early December have already seen January appointments pushed to next August. While emergency expedite requests are possible, they are granted sparingly and require extensive documentation.
Practical tips for employers include freezing non-essential travel through Q1 2026, shifting critical talent to visa-free Canadian or Mexican border posts for short projects, and building remote-work contingencies into client contracts. Foreign nationals who must travel are urged to book the earliest available appointment—even if it is months out—so they have a place in line, and to monitor fraud-alert e-mails from the State Department that may signal further postponements.
Longer term, companies are lobbying the White House and Congress to restore pandemic-era interview-waiver authority and to scrap the new $100,000 H-1B filing surcharge that took effect in September, arguing that America’s competitiveness will suffer if foreign talent opts for Canada, the U.K. or the Gulf states instead.
