A Reddit post discussing the cancellation of H1B visas has taken social media by storm. First, the context: Here’s what the Reddit post said:
A woman shared on Reddit that her H-1 B visa was canceled at Abu Dhabi International Airport during pre-clearance in the US. He works full-time in the US.
She traveled to India in November to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday. She and her husband had their visas stamped in December. Upon returning to the US in January, her husband was cleared. However, she was sent for secondary inspection.
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She told the officers that she stayed in India for about 2 months and during that time she worked part-time using Paid Time Off (PTO).
The officers alleged that she had “overstayed” in India and said that drawing wages while working from India for a US company was against US law. Her visa was canceled and marked “Cancelled and Withdrawn”.
She was told to log in again. However, there are currently no US visa slots available. Her company’s immigration lawyer says telecommuting from India is not illegal. Now she is stressed and asks for advice.
Now that we’ve checked, the Reddit post has been removed by the OP. However, screenshots of the post were shared on social media.
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American businessmen
American businessman James Blunt commented on this. He called it a “221(i) pretrial visa cancellation.” According to him, CBP (Customs and Border Protection) has “EXTREMELY WIDE discretion at ports of entry.”
Under US immigration law, CBP officers do not require the same level of evidence that USCIS requires when approving or denying an H-1B petition.
“The trigger for the review was probably from: long periods spent abroad (and) a combination of vacation and remote work,” Blunt said.
“Even if the underlying legal theory is weak, CBP can cancel the visa stamp. This does NOT guarantee an approved H-1B petition, but forces you to stamp AGAIN,” he added.
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Blunt went on to say, “Is that ridiculous? YES. But from a legal authority point of view, CBP absolutely has the authority to do this.”
He wondered why people still travel when “even immigration advocates warn against it”.
He suggests people “stop traveling unless it’s an emergency.”
“There are beautiful places to visit in the US and we have great Indian food. Come on guys, it’s not that hard,” he added.
SkillStorm co-founder Hany Girgis also commented on the problem. According to him, the cancellation of the H1B visa occurred because “remote work did not translate into LCA.”
“You cannot be paid by an American company (and) perform work outside the specified workplace. The whole program is built on ‘specific work, specific employer, specific location,'” he said.
