Two H-1B Visas Cancelled After A 60-Day Trip to India?

Amidst the debate over tightened US visa rules, two H1-B visa holders had their US visas cancelled in Abu Dhabi for overstaying in India. They spent over two months in their native place, outside the US. A Reddit user flagged the incident and said that their visas were cancelled simply for spending two months in India.

According to him, the incident reportedly happened at the Abu Dhabi preclearance facility, where the US immigration officers screen travelers before they board a plane to the place. Both the travelers’ visas were cancelled on the spot for staying out of the US for 60 days.

The Reddit user posted: “Just read a post on threads that a couple of H-1B visa holders had their visas cancelled during at the Abu Dhabi preclearance because they stayed in India for over 2 months. Is this even true?” The post evoked several responses from netizens guessing what could be the probable reason behind the cancellation.

One of them said: “I’ve stayed for months (worked remote) and returned back with no issues — afaik there is no limit of how long you can stay out of the country as long as your visa/797A remains valid and in status.”

Responding to this, visa consultants and immigration lawyers said that staying abroad for a few months is not an issue as along as an individual’s H-1B visa and I-797 approval notice are valid, and they are still on payroll and in good standing. Some others pointed that the visa cancellations may have been due to documentation issue but not the extended stay. The documentation issues can include missing employer letters or pay stubs. A few others speculated that the US officers could have asked the duo if they were still actively employed, as they were working remotely from India for an extended period.

There was another post which tried to put off all the speculation saying: “I am the immigration office who rejected visa in Abu Dhabi. It was due to some other problem and not due to length of the stay.” Legal experts felt that the extended remote working from abroad would not count toward the H-1B’s six-year stay limit, which probably could have led to the cancellation during inspection. It is due to this reason that larger companies sometimes take the H-1B workers off the US payroll when they spend more months in other countries.