U.S. Immigration Shakeup: Cancelled Visa Appointments, Extreme Vetting and EAD Validity Cuts

By: Lori Geisinger and Peter Asaad

The Trump Administration’s renewed “extreme vetting” posture is creating significant uncertainty for employers and challenges for foreign nationals, especially during peak holiday travel. Such challenges include U.S. consulate appointment cancellations, social media vetting for all H-1B, H-4, and other applicants, reduced EAD validity periods for several categories, uncommon visa revocations for some H-1B and H-4 visa holders, and processing holds on all pending immigration benefit requests for applicants from the 19 travel ban countries.  The impact may extend beyond the H-1B and H-4 visa categories, and beyond India consular posts.

U.S. Consular Posts Unilaterally Rescheduling H-1B and H-4 Non-Immigrant Visa Appointments

Multiple consular posts in India, including Hyderabad and Chennai, as well as in Ireland and Vietnam, have begun issuing notices cancelling H-1B and H-4 visa interview appointments scheduled on or after December 15^th, many to March 2026 or even later into July. Consular posts attribute these changes to the Department of State’s (DOS) implementation of the new online presence review requirement for H-1B applicants and their dependents (described below), to reduce the daily interview capacity needed to carry out this expanded vetting. 

Guidance and Action Items:

• Address the Risk of Extended Travel Disruption: Applicants who travel abroad for visa stamping may be unable to return to the United States for several months if their appointment is cancelled or rescheduled.  Foreign national employees applying for H visas should avoid non-essential travel if at all possible. This may extend to other non-immigrant visa categories and other consular posts.
• Limited Rescheduling: Applicants who cannot attend on the new date may reschedule online, but are limited to one opportunity to reschedule.
• Advise Applicants to Monitor Their Appointment Portals: Applicants should log in to their visa appointment profiles to retrieve updated appointment letters and check for message-center notifications.
• Avoid International Travel Until Resolution: Applicants are being instructed not to appear on their original date and to attend on the newly issued appointment date instead.  However, rescheduled dates are not necessarily guaranteed and international travel should be avoided until there is a resolution.  Indeed, consular posts are temporarily lowering daily interview numbers to accommodate online presence review, which may contribute to further shifts in appointment availability. These changes may impact additional nonimmigrant visa categories and additional consular posts.

Public Social Media Settings Required for all H-1B, H-4, and Other Applicants

On December 3, 2025, the DOS announced that it will expand its online presence review requirement to all H-1B principal applicants and H-4 dependents, effective December 15, 2025. DOS previously issued a similar directive that applied to F, M, and J visa applicants effective June 18, 2025.

Guidance and Action Items:

• National Security Framing: DOS emphasizes that every visa adjudication is a national security decision and that it will use all available information, including online presence, in screening.
• Public Social Media Settings Required: The new DOS directive instructs H-1B and H-4 applicants, as well as F, M, and J applicants already subject to this vetting, to ensure that the privacy settings on their social media accounts are set to “public” to facilitate screening. Moreover, Reuters has reported that a cable accompanied the December 3rd announcement from DOS requiring consular officers to review LinkedIn profiles or resumes of H-1B and H-4 visa applicants. Resumes are to be reviewed to see if the applicants or their family members have performed work in areas that include “activities such as misinformation, disinformation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others.” The cable further states that if a consular officer “uncover[s] evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, [they] should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible,” under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
• Potential for Increased Processing Times: Consular workloads will increase and visa applications may see longer wait times for interviews, more cases placed in administrative processing, and delays in visa issuance following interviews.
• Suggested action: Encourage employees to inform HR or PLG before scheduling international travel, especially if they need to apply for a new visa. Update employees regarding the heightened screening environment, and plan for longer visa-stamping processing times, especially for project-critical travelers. Advise employees to conduct pre-travel review of digital footprints for material that could be misinterpreted or construed as political, ideological, or extremist content that is “anti-American” or could reflect hostility toward the U.S., supportive of terrorist organizations, unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence, or appears inconsistent with the purpose of the visa classification or information provided in the petition and/or electronic visa application.

Reduced Maximum Validity Period for Several EAD Categories

USCIS reduced maximum validity period for several EAD categories (including adjustment of status EADs) from 5 years to 18 months for Form I-765 EAD applications pending on, or filed on or after, Dec. 5, 2025.

Guidance and Action Items:

• What Does it Apply To: Initial and renewal EADs in connection with pending AOS applications (both family-based and employment-based) and certain humanitarian classifications (such as refugees, asylees, pending asylum applicants, and others).
• What Does it Not Apply To: Existing EADs, which will remain valid through their current expiration dates.
• Impact: Foreign nationals will be required to renew EAD applications more often, which may increase USCIS processing times (which already exceed 6 months for some categories). These shorter EAD validity periods combined with USCIS’s recent elimination of EAD auto-extensions for timely filed EAD renewal applications may increase the risk of work authorization gaps.
• Suggested Action: Impacted employees should apply for EAD renewals as early as possible (6 months before expiry), and employers should prepare for potential gaps in employment authorization given current USCIS processing times for EADs.

Uncommon Visa Revocations Being Issued to H-1B and H-4 Visa Holders

Recent H-1B and H-4 visa revocations have been reported for minor traffic violations or for conduct already reviewed and cleared at prior consular interviews, which is historically uncommon.  This is similar to the F-1 student visa revocations that occurred this past Spring, in which the State Department and DHS used AI software to cross-analyze the FBI’s database with ICE’s SEVIS database, without a minimum standard of offense, to look for name matches. This resulted in thousands of visa revocations and SEVIS record terminations for students whose names appeared in both databases even if the underlying offenses were very minor (i.e. speeding tickets). 

Guidance and Action Items:

• When Visa Revocations May Occur: When the State Department receives “derogatory information directly from another US Government agency, including a member of the intelligence or law enforcement community” (such as when a nonimmigrant visa holder is arrested and charged with a serious crime while in the US), visa revocations are permitted.
• Suggested Action: Any prior police contact should be disclosed by foreign nationals and vetted by immigration counsel, especially for those applying for nonimmigrant visas abroad.

Processing Hold on All Pending Immigration Benefit Requests for Applicants from the Countries Listed in President Trump’s June 2025 Travel Ban

Several new restrictions have been announced in response to the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC by an Afghan national. USCIS has placed a processing hold on all pending immigration benefit requests for applicants who are citizens or born in one of the 19 countries listed in President Trump’s June 2025 travel ban, including Afghanistan, Burma/Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Guidance and Action Items:

• Scope of the Pause: The paused benefits requests include applications for permanent residency, replacements for green cards, applications for travel documents, and applications for permanent residents to preserve their status while working outside of the US. USICS is also re-reviewing approved immigration benefits for foreign nationals from the travel ban countries if the foreign national entered the US on or after Jan. 20, 2021.
• Asylum and Withholding of Removal Applications: USCIS has paused processing for all asylum applications and withholding of removal applications, no matter the applicant’s country of nationality or birth.
• Expanded List of Countries: An expanded travel ban hitting close to 30 countries is allegedly coming soon from the Trump Administration. The specific list of countries is not yet known.

Summary Guidance

The U.S. immigration system is getting tougher and much less predictable, especially for certain nationalities and categories. Risk assessments and mitigation is essential. Please stay in touch with PLG’s immigration team for regular updates on your matters.  

• Discourage travel outside of the US for your foreign national employees if it can be avoided, especially those that may require new H-1B, H-4, F, M or J visas.
• It is critical that your foreign national employees maintain their nonimmigrant status throughout their stay in the U.S.
• Foreign national employees, especially applicants for nonimmigrant visas, should be aware that any prior police or law enforcement contact with a foreign national employee could impact their immigration status, and must be disclosed to and vetted by immigration counsel.
• If international travel cannot be avoided, foreign national employees should be prepared for additional vetting, visa processing delays, and possible delays and questioning upon seeking admission to the U.S.