Apple, Google and others tell some foreign employees to avoid traveling out of the country

Big Tech companies, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and ServiceNow, person warned employees connected visas to debar leaving the state amid uncertainty astir changing migration argumentation and procedures.

Following an onslaught connected National Guard members successful Washington, the Trump medication expanded question bans earlier this month, and beefed up vetting and information postulation for visa applicants. The caller argumentation present includes screening the societal media past of immoderate visa applicants and their dependents.

Soon aft the announcement, U.S. consulates began rescheduling appointments for aboriginal dates, immoderate arsenic precocious arsenic summertime 2026, leaving employees who required appointments incapable to return.

“Please beryllium alert that immoderate U.S. Embassies and Consulates are experiencing important visa stamping assignment delays, presently reported arsenic up to 12 months,” noted an email sent by Berry Appleman & Leiden LLC, the migration steadfast that represents Google. The advisory besides recommended “avoiding planetary question astatine this time.”

Business Insider earlier reported connected the question advisories.

Microsoft’s memo noted that overmuch of the rescheduling is occurring successful India, successful cities specified arsenic Chennai and Hyderabad, and that caller stamping dates are arsenic acold retired arsenic June 2026.

The institution advised employees with valid enactment authorization who were traveling extracurricular the U.S. for stamping to instrumentality earlier their existent visa expires. Those inactive successful the U.S. scheduling upcoming question for visa stamping should “strongly consider” changing their question plans.

Apple’s migration squad besides recommended that employees without a valid H1-B visa stamp debar planetary question for now.

ServiceNow, a concern bundle company, likewise issued an advisory recommending that those with valid visa stamps instrumentality to the U.S.

Microsoft declined to remark connected its memo. Apple, Google and ServiceNow did not instantly respond to requests for comment.

Companies warned that delays owed to enhanced screening is for H-1B, H-4, F, J and M visas.

H-1B is simply a high-skilled migration visa programme that allows employers to sponsor enactment visas for individuals with specialized skills. The program, capped astatine 85,000 caller visas per year, is simply a transmission for American tech giants to root skilled workers, specified arsenic bundle engineers.

Big Tech companies specified arsenic Amazon, Google, and Meta person consistently topped the charts successful presumption of the fig of H-1B approvals, with Indian nationals arsenic the largest beneficiaries of the program, accounting for 71% of approved H-1 B petitions.

H-1B visas are awarded done a lottery system, which its critics accidental has been exploited by companies to regenerate American workers with inexpensive overseas labor.

In September, the Trump medication announced a $100,000 interest for caller H-1B worker hires. But aft terrible pushback, it clarified that it applied lone to employers seeking to usage the H-1B visa to prosecute overseas nationals not already successful the U.S.

The H-1B programme is an contented that has not lone animated the close but besides splintered it. Those connected the tech-right, specified arsenic Elon Musk and David Sacks, are powerfully successful favour of strengthening skilled immigration, portion the halfway MAGA basal is vehemently opposed to it.

Proponents of the programme often item that skilled idiosyncratic migration made the U.S a technological leader, and astir fractional of the luck 500 companies were founded by immigrants oregon their children, creating jobs for native-born Americans.