Many Indians are seeing their H-1B visa appointments pushed back due to new U.S. social media regulations

The U.S. Embassy in India cautioned that if a visa applicant comes to the consulate on their originally scheduled interview date after being informed that it has been rescheduled, they will be denied entry.

The US State Department’s new social media vetting policy has created massive disruptions for H-1B visa applicants in India, as many appointments have been postponed until next year.

The US Embassy in India issued an advisory to visa applicants on Tuesday night.

“If you have received an email that your visa appointment has been rescheduled, Mission India looks forward to assisting you with your new appointment date,” it said.

The embassy also warned that any visa applicant who arrives at the consulate on a previously scheduled interview date after receiving a notice of the reschedule will be denied entry. “Arriving on your previously scheduled appointment date will result in you being denied entry to the embassy or consulate,” the embassy said.

Interviews scheduled for mid- to late December have been postponed until March next year, according to a Bloomberg report. However, the exact number of rescheduled dates is not known.

“Mission India confirms what we’ve been hearing,” said Steven Brown, a lawyer at a leading business immigration law firm. “They have canceled several appointments in the coming weeks and rescheduled them for March to allow for social media vetting.”

The U.S. government expanded screening and verification measures for H-1B visa applicants and their H-4 dependents, directing them to keep the privacy settings on all their social media profiles set to “public.”

Officials will review their online presence starting Dec. 15 to identify applicants who are ineligible for visas or pose a threat to U.S. national security or public safety. Students and exchange visitors were already subject to such scrutiny.

The State Department stated that each visa review constitutes a national security decision.

The social media screening is the latest scrutiny of the H-1B program, the primary immigration pathway for skilled foreign workers, which has come under increasing pressure from the Trump administration.

In September, US President Donald Trump imposed a one-time $100,000 fee on new H-1B work visas—an order that could significantly impact Indian workers seeking temporary employment in the US.

Later, after an Afghan national opened fire on National Guard troops, the US also paused green card, US citizenship, and other immigration applications for people from 19 “countries of concern.”