Indian H-1B Visa Holders Trapped by Wait Times, Policy, and Geopolitics Indian H-1B Visa Holders Trapped by Wait Times, Policy, and Geopolitics

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}/* End custom CSS */]]>Puneet Sharma (name changed), a director at a Big Tech firm in the US, travelled to India in December for his H-1B visa extension appointment and to attend a cousin’s wedding. His visa interview, originally scheduled for December 24, 2025, has now been postponed to July. Sharma remains stranded in the country, while his wife and two children—an eight-year-old daughter and a three-month-old son—remain in Palo Alto, California. Despite lawyers trying to expedite the process, there has been no change in his status.

Ruma Saha, a data science engineer in Dallas, Texas, plans to get married in India in May. However, her lawyer has advised her to defer the wedding until the end of the year, given the prevailing uncertainty over visa stamping and delays. 

“All our bookings are set for a destination wedding in Banaras. We’re unsure how to proceed. Postponing means a significant financial loss,” she told AIM.

Theirs are among thousands of cases of Indians either strande