H‑1B stamping gridlocked
U.S. consulates report no H‑1B visa‑stamping appointments available for 2026 and some slots are pushed into 2027, creating long delays for international hires and transfers. Employers and clients face added uncertainty as consular vetting tightens and scheduling backlogs grow. (business-standard.com)
All five U.S. consulates in India showed “No Appointments Available” for petition‑based visas in late January 2026, and multiple outlets report that the next publicly visible slots have been pushed into 2027. (visahq.com) The State Department’s expanded online‑presence review, announced to take effect from December 15, 2025, triggered a wave of cancellations and mass rescheduling of H‑1B and H‑4 interviews at high‑volume posts. (fragomen.com) Consular rebookings followed a pattern of moving December 2025 appointments into March–June 2026 or October 2026, with many later slips into 2027 documented by mobility and visa‑news trackers. (visaverge.com) Legal‑practice analyses and consular reports show the backlog touches multiple nonimmigrant petition classes—H, L, O, P and Q—and the State Department appointment portal was displaying “not available” status at locations including Delhi and Kolkata. (immigrationfleet.com) Operational constraints cited by global‑mobility firms include restrictions on third‑country stamping and the effective curtailment of drop‑box renewals, both of which have materially reduced interview capacity. (visahq.com) Employers and immigration practitioners have documented concrete consequences: delayed start dates and intra‑company transfers, adoption of remote onboarding as interim measures, and individual applicants receiving reschedule notices with April 2027 and later dates. (visahq.com)
