H-1B techie, stuck in India for 18 months, sues officials for delay in visa; court dismisses, says it's not unreasonable
TCS techie Navdeep Sharma filed a lawsuit over delay in H-1B visa approval. Who is Navdeep Sharma? What is the case? According to the lawsuit
TCS techie Navdeep Sharma filed a lawsuit over delay in H-1B visa approval. Who is Navdeep Sharma? What is the case? According to the lawsuit, Sharma is a TCS techie, working for the company since 2001. A resident of Georgetown, Texas, Sharma has a wife and two children. In December 2023, TCS filed an H-1B petition for Sharma seeking to extend his H-1B status through March 2027. USCIS approved the petition in early 2024, and in November 2024, Sharma submitted his DS-160 application. In January 2025, Sharma traveled to Hyderabad for a visa interview. After the interview, he received a refusal and a request to schedule a panel physician appointment for a medical examination. Sharma completed the medical exam and a few months later, he recived another request for medical examination.
He was still in India as his visa was not approved. In July 2025, his visa was approved and as he went to the US Consulate to collect his passport, he received a refusal. One week later, he received an email from the Hyderabad Consulate requesting a list of all his social media accounts. Sharma has still not received any final decision and continues to live in India and is separated from his wife and children for 18 months. Sharma filed the lawsuit in September 2025, nine months after the first refusal and two months after the second. He mentioned that he cannot work for TCS from India and he can't return to the US without a valid visa.
An Indian techie, separated from his wife and children for over 18 months because of the visa refusals he's facing in India, has sued several US officials but a district court dismissed his lawsuit and said the court understood the situation with sympathy; it will dismiss the case as the delay can't be called unreasonable.TCS worker Navdeep Sharma approached the court in September 2025 as he was facing repeated rejection on his H-1B visa on various grounds.In his lawsuit, he sued several departments and officials and the court observed that he had no right to sue half of those departments. He sued Secretary of State, the Senior Bureau Official for Consular Affairs, the Charge d'Affaires at the US. Embassy to India, the Consul General in Hyderabad, and an unnamed consular officer (collectively, the "State Department Defendants").
In his lawsuit, Sharma also named the DHS secretary, the US Attorney General, the FBI direcror.The court observed that Sharma lacked standing to sue any party other than the State Department officials. On the issue of delay, the court said it was not unreasonable as the agencies dealing with it must have their reasons for their decisions. The court said it sympathized with Sharma and his prolonged separation from his family but this factor alone is not a reason for the court to bump him to the front of the line.
The BriefWire