Separate from the mass cancellations controversy, the Ministry of External Affairs has told Parliament that routine H-1B interview appointments for first-time applicants are now showing earliest availability in September 2026 at the US Consulates in Chennai and Hyderabad. The MEA’s data, disclosed on 26 December and reported by The Economic Times, reveal that the average wait-time for work-visa slots has breached 620 days – the longest on record.
Officials attribute the backlog to enhanced social-media vetting, staff shortages at US missions, and a surge in demand following the Trump Administration’s abolishment of the H-1B lottery in favour of a merit-based selection that takes effect in February 2026. While the change is designed to favour higher-paid roles, it also requires consular officers to scrutinise wage-level documentation more closely, adding to processing time.
![MEA also flags multi-year backlog: H-1B interview slots for Indians now slip into late-2026]()
Indian IT majors warn that delayed mobility could weaken their competitiveness in the USD 100 billion US outsourcing market. Several firms are fast-tracking near-shore delivery centres in Mexico and Costa Rica and lobbying Washington for interview-waiver reinstatement for returning workers with prior visas.
For individual professionals, immigration lawyers recommend scheduling “place-holder” appointments immediately upon receiving an I-797 approval and then aggressively monitoring for earlier openings that occasionally surface. Dependents should expect identical wait-times, as family-based slots are linked to the principal applicant.
The MEA says it will keep pressing the US to deploy surge consular teams in India early in 2026 and is exploring a pilot programme that would allow certain categories of visa renewals to be adjudicated entirely in the United States, eliminating the need for a trip back home.
Officials attribute the backlog to enhanced social-media vetting, staff shortages at US missions, and a surge in demand following the Trump Administration’s abolishment of the H-1B lottery in favour of a merit-based selection that takes effect in February 2026. While the change is designed to favour higher-paid roles, it also requires consular officers to scrutinise wage-level documentation more closely, adding to processing time.
Indian IT majors warn that delayed mobility could weaken their competitiveness in the USD 100 billion US outsourcing market. Several firms are fast-tracking near-shore delivery centres in Mexico and Costa Rica and lobbying Washington for interview-waiver reinstatement for returning workers with prior visas.
For individual professionals, immigration lawyers recommend scheduling “place-holder” appointments immediately upon receiving an I-797 approval and then aggressively monitoring for earlier openings that occasionally surface. Dependents should expect identical wait-times, as family-based slots are linked to the principal applicant.
The MEA says it will keep pressing the US to deploy surge consular teams in India early in 2026 and is exploring a pilot programme that would allow certain categories of visa renewals to be adjudicated entirely in the United States, eliminating the need for a trip back home.
Source: The Economic Times
