For thousands of Indian tech workers, a routine trip home has become a logistical nightmare. As of 27 January 2026 all five US consulates in India—New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata—show “Not Available” for H-category visa-stamping appointments through the end of 2026. Applicants are now seeing the first open dates in May 2027.
1. How did we get here?
• In December 2025 consulates began cancelling December-March appointments to introduce enhanced social-media vetting.
• The pause coincided with the US State Department’s global shift away from third-country national visa processing, pushing even more demand onto Indian posts.
• A wage-weighted H-1B selection model announced for FY-2027 has added fresh compliance steps for employers, further slowing case reviews.
2. Business impact
• Indian H-1B holders normally travel home for weddings, medical emergencies or visa renewal; many now risk being “locked” in the United States for fear of being stranded in India without a fresh stamp.
• Multinationals face project delays as short-term assignees decline travel and new hires wait months to mobilise.
• US client sites that rely on rotating offshore talent must absorb higher costs for premium processing and explore inter-company transfers to Canada or Mexico as stop-gaps.
![US H-1B visa-stamping backlog pushes Indian interview dates into 2027]()
3. Work-arounds and advice
• Attorneys recommend using the State Department’s very limited interview-waiver drop-box programme where eligibility rules allow.
• Employers are booking “visa runs” to Frankfurt, Singapore and Dubai—posts that still accept some third-country nationals—for critical travellers, though capacity is shrinking.
• HR teams should budget for 18-to-24-month lead times, secure remote-work approvals, and monitor the State Department’s weekly appointment-release patterns (typically Wednesday midnight IST).
Amid these challenges, specialised facilitators such as VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can provide real-time slot monitoring, compliance-ready documentation support, and end-to-end case tracking via a single dashboard—helping both individual travellers and corporate mobility teams navigate the evolving H-1B stamping landscape more confidently.
4. Policy outlook
Industry bodies such as NASSCOM and the US-India Business Council have petitioned Washington for a temporary remote-validation solution similar to the domestic visa revalidation pilot of the early 2000s, but officials say security directives make that unlikely before late 2026.
Until then, Indian professionals and their employers must navigate the longest H-1B visa-stamping wait times on record—another reminder that mobility planning now requires a multi-year horizon.
1. How did we get here?
• In December 2025 consulates began cancelling December-March appointments to introduce enhanced social-media vetting.
• The pause coincided with the US State Department’s global shift away from third-country national visa processing, pushing even more demand onto Indian posts.
• A wage-weighted H-1B selection model announced for FY-2027 has added fresh compliance steps for employers, further slowing case reviews.
2. Business impact
• Indian H-1B holders normally travel home for weddings, medical emergencies or visa renewal; many now risk being “locked” in the United States for fear of being stranded in India without a fresh stamp.
• Multinationals face project delays as short-term assignees decline travel and new hires wait months to mobilise.
• US client sites that rely on rotating offshore talent must absorb higher costs for premium processing and explore inter-company transfers to Canada or Mexico as stop-gaps.
3. Work-arounds and advice
• Attorneys recommend using the State Department’s very limited interview-waiver drop-box programme where eligibility rules allow.
• Employers are booking “visa runs” to Frankfurt, Singapore and Dubai—posts that still accept some third-country nationals—for critical travellers, though capacity is shrinking.
• HR teams should budget for 18-to-24-month lead times, secure remote-work approvals, and monitor the State Department’s weekly appointment-release patterns (typically Wednesday midnight IST).
Amid these challenges, specialised facilitators such as VisaHQ (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can provide real-time slot monitoring, compliance-ready documentation support, and end-to-end case tracking via a single dashboard—helping both individual travellers and corporate mobility teams navigate the evolving H-1B stamping landscape more confidently.
4. Policy outlook
Industry bodies such as NASSCOM and the US-India Business Council have petitioned Washington for a temporary remote-validation solution similar to the domestic visa revalidation pilot of the early 2000s, but officials say security directives make that unlikely before late 2026.
Until then, Indian professionals and their employers must navigate the longest H-1B visa-stamping wait times on record—another reminder that mobility planning now requires a multi-year horizon.
