Business
Your American dreams might have to wait! Indians face increased US visa refusals over social media checks – The Times of India
Want to go to the US but facing delays for your visa? Your are not alone! Many Indians who applied for US visas are struggling with delays, as tighter scrutiny over social media activity and past arrests slows processing in the country’s largest revenue generating market. Over the past year, more applicants have been issued 221(g) notices, temporary visa refusals that allow consular officers to verify backgrounds before making a decision. The trend comes after US President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025, tightening visa norms. Indians, who accounted for over 70% of H-1B visas in FY24 according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, are among the most affected by these measures. Section 221(g) of the US Immigration and Nationality Act allows visas to be temporarily refused or put on hold. While such notifications are not new, experts say even cases that previously would not have triggered 221(g) are now being delayed. Joel Yanovich, Attorney at Murthy Law Firm, told ET, “We probably are seeing a higher rate of 221(g) notices. While it’s difficult to quantify, the anecdotal evidence suggests that more people are running into further delays, even after getting in for an appointment.” Some denials appear unprecedented under the current administration. Gnanamookan Senthurjothi, founder of the Visa Code, said, “Since May 2025, we have seen applicants with prior arrest records, which are over a decade old, getting 221(g). This is despite multiple stampings they have done before.” He added that even individuals with valid documents are seeing visas revoked, leaving hundreds of Indians stuck in the country. Xiao Wang, founder of Boundless Immigration, told ET that many applicants are being notified that their visas have been “prudentially revoked” without explanation. He also reported a rise in biometric requests for H-1B applications, which was uncommon previously. “All applications are now taking longer for officers to evaluate, slowing down the entire process. Now that they have to do detailed social media vetting and put every case under additional scrutiny and judgment, each case is taking more time, resulting in longer delays for all applications,” Wang explained. Appointments that were rescheduled have also been pushed back. “We saw mass cancellations of appointments in early December, when many had already departed the US. These appointments were rescheduled initially for March and April but then some were being pushed out as far as November,” he added. Applicants receiving 221(g) notices are now being asked to provide further documents, including toxicology reports and police records. While this represents a step forward in processing, Senthurjothi said hundreds of Indians remain affected.
Britain’s long-term borrowing costs have surged to their highest level since 1998, driven by escalating inflation worries and political uncertainty ahead of this week’s local elections.
On Tuesday afternoon, the yield on 30-year UK government bonds, known as gilts, hit a 28-year peak, climbing 0.14 percentage points to 5.798%.
This increase in yield signifies a drop in bond prices, as the two move inversely. Consequently, the government faces higher expenses when seeking to borrow from financial markets.
The yield on 10-year gilts also rose, lifting by 0.15 percentage points to 5.122%, though this remains below recent highs reported last month.
In contrast, US 10-year treasury notes were flat on Tuesday, despite a steady increase over recent weeks.
Gilt yields have grown amid growing predictions that the conflict in Iran will drive higher inflation due to spiking energy costs, which is then likely to cause the Bank of England to increase interest rates.
City traders currently expect the central bank to vote for at least two interest rate hikes in the coming months, despite the Bank maintaining the current rate of 3.75% last week.
The rise in gilt yields means the Government will face higher debt interest costs, providing more strain on the Chancellor’s spending powers.
It comes amid a backdrop of significant pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the run-up to the UK local elections.
The pound was broadly flat at 1.353 versus the dollar on Tuesday.
The FDA blocked the publication of several studies supporting the safety of vaccines against Covid and shingles in recent months, a Health and Human Services Department spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.
It’s the latest effort by the Trump administration to challenge safe and effective shots in the U.S. and make them harder to access for some patients. Under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, federal health agencies have softened Covid shot recommendations, cut back research on vaccine development and attempted to overhaul the childhood immunization schedule, among other efforts.
FDA scientists worked with data firms to analyze millions of patient records for the studies, which found side effects of the shots to be rare, the New York Times first reported on Tuesday.
In October, the scientists were directed to withdraw two Covid shot studies that had been accepted for publication in medical journals, the Times reported. In February, top FDA officials did not sign off on submitting study abstracts on Shingrix, a shingles vaccine, to a drug safety conference, the paper added.
The HHS spokesperson told CNBC the recent studies were “withdrawn because the authors drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data.”
“The FDA acted to protect the integrity of its scientific process and ensure that any work associated with the agency meets its high standards,” they added.
When asked about the shingles vaccine research, the HHS spokesperson said the design of that study “fell outside the agency’s purview.”
Business
Spirit starts monthslong process of dismantling airline after biggest collapse in a generation
Spirit Airlines‘ more than three-decade run ended over the weekend, but on Tuesday it was just starting the monthslong process of dismantling the company after the biggest U.S. airline collapse in a generation.
Spirit and its stakeholders were in bankruptcy court in White Plains, New York, to start that process, which will take months. The hearing included discussions about airport landing fees, aircraft and staffing.
The carrier filed a cumulative wind-down budget of around $217 million, though that number could change.
The budget went out to February 2028. It included more than $52 million in employee costs through July and another more than $52 million for aircraft-related expenses.
The airline had 59 Airbus A320s in service and 63 in storage, as well as 37 of the larger A321s in service, and 13 of them in storage, according to aviation data firm Cirium. More than three-quarters of its fleet was leased.
Spirit shut down operations after years of struggles, most recently from heavy debt loads and a surge in costs.
Spirit’s lawyer, Marshall Huebner of Davis Polk, told a bankruptcy court on Tuesday that the jump in jet fuel prices following the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran in February left the carrier with no choice but to shut down. That added $100 million in incremental costs for Spirit in March and April, he said.
U.S. bankruptcy court in White Plains, N.Y.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Talks for a potential government bailout in the form of a $500 million loan that could have given the government an up to 90% stake in Spirit fell apart late last week, and the carrier officially shut down at 3 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Spirit passengers scrambled to rebook reservations. American Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and others said they have flown tens of thousands of Spirit customers who were stranded by the collapse.
Spirit had flown about 50,000 people in the day leading up to its closure. The airline said about 17,000 direct and indirect employees lost their jobs.
“The closing of Spirit Airlines is a sad and unfortunate event that adversely affects many parties, and that’s particularly true for the thousands of folks who are Spirit employees and families who depend on them,” the presiding judge, Sean Lane, said at Tuesday’s hearing.
“The stress level for these employees and affinities is very high, and they likely have many questions,” he continued. “Hopefully there’ll be some information discussed today to provide some answers to some of those questions, or provides information about where to get those answers. Bankruptcy can be a very difficult process, and today is a sad example of that.”
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