'Overstayed in India': Redditor says H-1B visa got canceled at Abu Dhabi preclearance

A Redditor on an H-1B visa claimed that her passport was stamped 'cancelled and withdrawn' at Abu Dhabi preclearance as she was traveling back to the US in January, along with her husband.

Explaining her case, she said that she traveled to India in November to celebrate her daughter's first birthday and did not face the H-1B stamping delay as their appointment dates were before December 15, 2025 -- before the visa chaos started. The Redditor said her husband and she got their visa stamping o December 12 before dates started to get rescheduled en masse. Their ticket to the US was in January and as they reached the Abu Dhabi preclearance, her case was flagged.

Her husband was cleared with no issue. The woman narrated the questions she was asked at the preclearance and the possible reason why she was not allowed to travel further to the US. The woman was asked how long she stayed in India and whether she was working from India or not. The Redditor said she stayed in India for two months and it was a combination of work and vacation. She was on paid time off but she partially worked.She was sent for a secondary inspection, where she was asked to show proof that working from India was mentioned in her Labor Condition Application which was not there.

The woman was told that she 'overstayed' in India and getting paid while working from India for a US company is against US law. "They cancelled my visa and stamped 'Cancelled and Withdrawn' on my passport. I was told that I would need to go for visa stamping again. However, there are currently no visa appointment slots available," the woman wrote. "My company’s immigration attorney says there is no such rule that prohibits working remotely from India while employed by a US company, and has advised me to go for stamping again.

But with no available slots, I’m extremely stressed and unsure what to do next," the woman wrote, seeking advice. Hundreds of H-1B workers got stranded in India after the State Department started social media vetting since December 2025, resulting in a massive rescheduling of visa appointments. Those who had appointment dates in December got rescheduled to April or May 2026. Subsequently, all dates went haywire and now there is no dates for visa stamping in consular offices in 2026. While some companies allowed Indian H-1Bs to work remotely from India as long as they are stuck in their home country, the legal part of it remains a grey area for most of the companies and the employees.