New Delhi, Updated At : 02:39 PM Dec 10, 2025 IST
Confusion and last-minute travel upheavals swept through US visa applicants this week after the State Department’s new social-media vetting triggered widespread disruptions for H-1B applicants in India. Numerous December appointments have been postponed to next year.
The US Embassy in India posted on X, “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.” It warned that arriving on the previously scheduled date “will result in your being denied admittance to the Embassy or Consulate.”
The disruption follows Washington’s intensified vetting requiring applicants to make social accounts public and disclose all usernames used in the past five years. The situation deepened after the Trump administration on December 3 announced an expanded security-screening protocol for H-1B applicants.
An internal State Department cable directed consular officers to examine applicants’ resumes and LinkedIn profiles — and even those of family members — for involvement in areas including misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance, or online safety.
The fallout spilled onto Reddit, where users described cancelled flights and sleepless nights. “My flight was in 9 hours. The agent told me I should attend biometrics on the 15th but wait to hear back about my Dec 23 interview. No way I’m taking that risk. This was my first trip in six years… I’m super frustrated,” one user wrote. Another said, “Given the cancellations happening, it’s too big a risk. We cancelled our trip and will cancel our visa appointments too.”
Applicants from other countries wondered if similar rescheduling was occurring elsewhere. “Is this only happening to India? I’m from a South American country with biometrics on the 22nd and interview on the 26th. I haven’t received any email yet,” one asked.
The US Mission has not issued detailed clarification on whether further rescheduling is expected.
