According to an internal email cited by Business Insider on Friday, Alphabet’s Google has encouraged certain staff with US visas to refrain from traveling abroad because of delays at embassies.
According to the article, BAL Immigration Law, the company’s outside counsel, wrote an email on Thursday warning employees who require a visa stamp to re-enter the United States not to leave the country due to longer visa processing waits.
A request for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by Google.
The document warned that traveling abroad may “risk an extended stay outside the US” and that some US embassies and consulates have visa appointment delays of up to 12 months.
This month, US President Donald Trump’s administration declared that applicants for H-1B visas for highly qualified professionals will undergo further screening, including social media account screening.
After the Trump administration levied a $100,000 cost for new applicants this year, the H-1B visa program—which is largely utilized by the US technology sector to employ skilled workers from China and India—came under scrutiny.
According to an email obtained by Reuters in September, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, aggressively pushed its employees not to travel abroad and encouraged those with H-1B visas to stay in the United States.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
