An Indian Redditor sought help from the H-1B community members, presenting a unique crisis. While hundreds of H-1B visa holders are stranded in India as their visa stamping expired and there is no appointment date available in the consular offices in India for immediate stamping, the Redditor has an H-1B petition valid till 2028 but no job to return to. “I got laid off by company when I am in India for family emergency in India . My H1B petition is valid till 2028 . What options I have now in India to stamp visa again and back to USA,” the Redditor asked.The most common answer that came up from the viral post was that the situation has practically no solution other than staying in India. “H-1B is effectively dead,” one wrote in the comment section and that resonated with many facing a similar situation.
H-1B visa fee, job loss, visa stamping delay
As the Redditor was laid off on vacation in India, the 60-day grace period does not matter. Finding a new US employer was the most suggested solution but Redditors also noted that it’s next to impossible, as any company hiring an H-1B visa holder staying in India will have to pay a $100,000 visa fee. The H-1B visa program is facing a three-pronged problem under the current Trump administration. The administration imposed a $100,000 visa fee if the candidate whom a company wants to hire is not in the US. This instantly narrows the pool for medium scale employers as many top H-1B hirers asserted that they would still hire H-1Bs from outside the country, notwithstanding the fee. The visa stamping delay in India shut hundreds of H-1Bs outside the US. These Indian tech workers traveled to India around November, December 2025 to get their visa freshly stamped from the consular offices. All their appointment dates got rescheduled in 2026 and even in 2027 as the consular offices started social media vetting for H-1B and H-4 visa candidates and reduced the number of appointments per day. This forced these H-1Bs to remain in India as they couldn’t enter the US without a new visa stamping. Some companies allowed them to work from India, and some laid off these H-1Bs.
