Trump Makes US Entry Lengthy, Costly for Workers and Travelers

Business travelers, foreign workers, and tourists are facing a combination of longer wait times and higher costs to come to the US.

Starting next month, workers on H-1B visas popular with the tech sector as well as seasonal laborers will have to go to consulates in person for visas after years of relying on interview waivers. The requirement comes after a multi-week student visa interview freeze that has left many international scholars stuck in backlogs with the fall semester starting soon at US colleges.

All temporary visitors to the country meanwhile may soon be hit with a $250 visa fee passed by lawmakers that would make the US visas among the most expensive of any nation. That comes on top of a pilot program imposing visa bonds as high as $15,000 for visitors from some countries with high overstay rates.

The Trump administration says it’s prioritizing national security with its actions, but business may suffer the consequences if they can’t bring workers they need into the US on time or possibly at all.

Immigration attorneys say travelers face as much scrutiny as ever over even minor issues that wouldn’t have affected eligibility before.

“It does beg the question: is the Department of State really working hard to facilitate legitimate travel?” said Düden Freeman, a former consular officer and founder of Idelire Consulting.

Visa Wait Times

In September, the State Department will restrict in-person interview waivers to just a handful of visa categories like those for diplomats and government officials. That’s a major shift for H-1B workers and other foreign employees who relied on the “dropbox” option in recent years to renew visas abroad without an interview.

Interview waivers for many visa applicants were always seen as a temporary measure to address historic post-Covid backlogs. But the new mandate means the workload for consulates is increasing without additional resources for staffing, said Claire Pratt, managing attorney at Jewell Stewart Pratt Beckerson & Carr PC. Consular wait times in India—the biggest source of H-1B talent—are already rising, she said.

“We’re certainly telling folks, especially those used to drop boxes at high-volume posts, to be really sure they need to leave,” she said of travel outside the US.

Other changes like shortening the visa duration for a slate of countries—most notably Nigeria—will add to the burdens on consular offices. Their ability to absorb new interview mandates will be tested almost immediately. Half of the H-2B seasonal worker visas available under a statutory cap will be released on Oct. 1, just a month after new interview requirements take effect.

For years, seasonal workers coming from countries like Guatemala and Mexico for hard-to-fill landscaping and hospitality jobs in the US weren’t required to attend in-person interviews. Consulates have prioritized processing of those seasonal work visas.

But the spike in demand for new appointments will have a “trickle down effect” on other visa categories, said L.J. D’Arrigo, immigration practice leader at Harris Beach Murtha PLLC.

Employers in health care and higher education with time-sensitive hiring needs are already saying they won’t consider candidates outside the US who need to go through visa processing, he added.

“A lot of my clients are saying we can’t take the risk,” D’Arrigo said.

Enrollment Disruptions

US colleges and universities could see a 30% to 40% drop in new international student arrivals this fall thanks to a combination of factors like backlogs for visa interviews, added scrutiny at consulates, and a travel ban blocking scholars from 19 countries.

After freezing interview appointments at the “absolute worst time” of the year, the State Department is conducting new social media reviews that are taking up to a week for an individual visa applicant, said Steve Springer, director of regulatory practice liaison for NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

“All of these delays are piling up on top of each other,” he said. “Early indications to us are they were overly optimistic about how fast the social media vetting would go.”

The group has asked State to expedite student visa processing and grant student and exchange visitor visas an exemption from the current travel ban like the one granted during the first Trump administration. House lawmakers last month also pressed the agency to address student visa backlogs in India. Colleges have limited options beyond offering a delayed start for some students or deferring their admission to the spring semester, which means lower chances they enroll at all.

A State Department spokesperson said all applicants should apply for visas well ahead of anticipated travel. The process becomes more efficient as the agency continues to hone its vetting procedures, but it will take the necessary time to ensure every applicant does not pose a security risk to the US, the spokesperson said.

Costs Adding Up

Workers and foreign visitors will also have to absorb higher up-front costs for travel to the US thanks to a $250 visa integrity fee mandated by the $3.4 trillion tax cut and spending bill (H.R. 1) backed by President Donald Trump.

Those fees, which haven’t yet been adopted, and new visa bonds for travelers from Malawi and Zambia are aimed in part at addressing visa overstays. But the US Travel Association projects the integrity fee could cost the US economy $9.5 billion in lost spending over the next three years.

The group is urging the Trump administration to delay its adoption with major international sporting events like the World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics on the horizon. A DHS spokesperson said the integrity fee requires cross-agency coordination but didn’t provide other updates on implementation.

“We think the Trump administration has the flexibility not to move forward,” said Erik Hansen, US Travel’s senior vice president of government relations. “At a minimum, the administration should wait to get the results of that pilot program.”