Since December 2025, the U.S. Consulates in India have been undergoing changes that applicants should consider when traveling abroad or scheduling appointments with the U.S. Consulates in India. The first major change has been the mass cancellation of H-1B and H-4 visa appointments. The U.S. Consulates have been reaching out to applicants with already scheduled appointments and rescheduling them for much later dates. Second, the Department of State (DOS) has revised drop box eligibility criteria, limiting it to applicants renewing a visa in the same class that is either still valid or expired within the last twelve months (a departure from the previous 48-month policy for any visa class). 

Mass Cancellations and Emergency Request System

The U.S. Consulates in India broke records in 2024, issuing more than one million nonimmigrant visas for the second year in a row, underscoring the huge demand of Indians for travel to the United States for tourism, business, and education. Despite efforts to streamline processing, visa appointments for certain nonimmigrant categories remain backlogged by more than a year. The presumption is that the mass rescheduling is due to new mandatory social media vetting requirements for H-1B and H-4 visa applicants announced by the DOS on December 5, 2025, which took effect December 15, 2025. These new vetting requirements have reduced the number of visa interviews consulates can conduct daily. Visa applicants are reporting that, currently, no new appointments are available at any of the consular posts in India when attempting to schedule or reschedule appointments. 

As a result of the widespread visa appointment cancellations, U.S. Mission India, the visa program through the U.S. Consulates, implemented an Emergency Request (ER) process. However, the system has specific requirements to allow for emergency or immediate appointments to be scheduled. Following an ER approval, applicants are given a ten‑day window to secure a new appointment. It has been reported that it is difficult to secure an emergency appointment.

Interview Waiver (Drop Box) Updates

Per the U.S. Consulate’s website, applicants seeking a waiver of the standard visa interview requirement must meet stricter eligibility criteria:

• Applicants must have a previous U.S. visa in the same class as the visa they are applying for.
• The prior visa must be either still valid or have expired within the past twelve months.

Previously, drop box processing was available for applicants with a visa in any category that had expired within the past 48 months. The U.S. Consulates are advising visa applicants who have already scheduled an interview waiver appointment to review their eligibility. If they are no longer eligible for an interview waiver, they must cancel the existing appointment and reschedule a biometric and consular appointment for an in-person interview. U.S. Mission India advises that drop box processing typically takes up to three weeks from document submission until the visa is ready for pick-up or delivery.

We recommend the following:

• Visa applicants must check the visa scheduling portal frequently to confirm their interview date.
• Visa applicants should check the visa scheduling portal to look for new openings for visa appointments. Cancellations will often occur, and it is possible you may be able to get an interview date earlier than the initial scheduled appointment.
• Visa applications should review the Consulate’s interview waiver eligibility criteria. Applicants may be eligible for an interview waiver at a U.S. Consulate in India if their visa stamp is in the same category that they are now applying for and the visa stamp is still valid or has expired within the past 12 months. 
• If the visa applicant is having trouble scheduling their interview, they can consider applying for Emergency Response. 
• Visa applicants should consider the impact of traveling to India only to find out that their appointment has been rescheduled, and their current visa stamp is no longer valid. This could mean becoming stranded in India for a much longer time with no way to return to the U.S. without a new H-1B visa stamp. Consider cancelling international travel plans that include a visit to the U.S. Consulate in India. 

The impacts of both the mass cancellation of appointments and the new drop box criteria may significantly impact the wait times and processing for applicants to receive their visa stamps. This does not apply only to H-1B applicants. Many other nonimmigrant visa categories have been experiencing significant delays in processing their cases. We advise applicants to speak with Immigration Counsel when considering travel plans and applying for visa stamps in India. We will continue to monitor developments on this topic. Our team is available to answer any questions pertaining to these issues.