Anxiety grips Indian diaspora as US steps up ‘Prudential’ visa cancellations

A growing number of Indian students and professionals in the United States are facing heightened anxiety as immigration enforcement tightens, marked by a surge in so-called “prudential” visa revocations, media reports said.

Rajiv S. Khanna, managing attorney at Immigration.com, told The Times of India that his firm has observed a significant increase in revocation notices issued by the US Department of State (DOS), often delivered abruptly via email.

He said the impact of the new measures is being felt most acutely by F-1 international students and H-1B skilled workers. According to Khanna, recent notices explicitly state that affected cases are being reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“This is a fundamentally different situation and represents a potential pathway to removal proceedings,” he said.

Prudential visa revocations are frequently justified on broad and vaguely worded grounds, most commonly citing arrests for driving under the influence (DUI) or other interactions with law enforcement, the newspaper reported.

Ashwin Sharma, another immigration attorney, told the daily that while the standard DS-160 visa application requires disclosure of social media handles and history from the past five years, the ‘extreme vetting’ form (DS-5535) goes much further. It seeks travel and employment histories spanning the last 15 years.

Sharma also pointed to a Department of State release issued in June—Announcement of Expanded Screening and Vetting for Visa Applicants—which instructs consular officers to review an applicant’s entire online presence for signs of “hostility” or “evasiveness.”

“To me, this suggests the scrutiny is not limited to a fixed timeframe,” he said.

What is a prudential visa revocation?

According to the Reddy Neumann Brown PC website, a prudential visa revocation is a temporary, precautionary cancellation of a visa by the Department of State. It is carried out “prudentially”—that is, out of caution—when the government suspects a potential issue with a visa holder’s eligibility, even if the matter has not yet been fully determined.