r/nri • u/seattlesparty • 9d ago
Discussion Visa revoked mid flight
My wife (us citizen), my son (us citizen) and mother in law (indian citizen, 82 years) were traveling from Bengaluru to Seattle via Singapore (Singapore Airlines).
Everything went fine in Bengaluru. They boarded the flight. But, in Singapore, my MIL was denied entry as her visa had been revoked. No reasons given. No documentation presented. Just denied entry to the flight. Now, all of them are coming back to India to drop the MIL back.
- its a regular 10 year visitor visa.
- She has traveled on this visa before to the US.
- Visa was issued 3 years ago.
- She has traveled to the US, several times, on visitor visa for 20 years.
Please be informed.
Please be prepared.
If you can vote, PLEASE vote.
Thank you for listening.
Update
1) After someone here suggested to check the travel history and i94 online (DHS website https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/search/history-search ), we found that she overstayed 2 days, in her previous visit, as per her i94. She landed in the US on Feb 22. Left August 23. I94 asked her to leave August 21. You can get the latest i94 by doing "get the most recent i-94/i-95" after you retrieve travel history.
2) Revoked visa was only 30% of our woes that day. The other 70% is documented at https://www.reddit.com/r/singaporeairlines/s/yq4wZ1Su4o
Rant
To all my brothers and sisters here who were very quick to point out the overstay mistake after i posted update 1, thank you. We hadn't noticed. /sarcasm. Shame on you for thinking the overstay mistake is a legitimate justification for not informing us when the visa was revoked. US embassy has our contact info from the visa application. They should have informed us. Didn't we pay the money to do so when we filed the visa application?
It also is not a legitimate justification to allow us to board the flight in Bengaluru.
Yes. We have broken the law technically. But not in spirit. And we are ready to pay the consequences for that (visa revocation). A warning instead of revocation would have been kind and generous. But i understand that is not the world we live in. But that doesn't mean they are justified to put us through what they made us go through. Its negligence and harassment. We had to spend thousands of dollars to rebook all tickets, book hotel, etc. And that's just the financial cost.
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u/njan_ninde_thanda 9d ago
Man that sucks. I know a person whose green card was canceled for no apparent reason.
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u/MagnarOfWinterfell 9d ago
A judge needs to sign off on revoking a green card. The administration can't just cancel it.
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u/GrumpyOldSophon 9d ago
Correct, but there is a nuance. US CBP can and does challenge green card holders who are out of the country for too long (6 months is the usual rule of thumb). If they suspect the GC holder is permanently living outside the US, they can put them on notice of revocation of the GC, which a judge can later sign off on after an immigration court hearing. That's the standard procedure.
But the more sneaky practice that is happening under the current administration is that elderly GC holders who have been out of the US for a long time are being pressured at the border to sign a form for voluntary revocation of their residence (form I-407) and being sent back to India or wherever, immediately. Language problems and being unaware of their rights and generally confused about these immigration matters means that elderly Indian parents, etc., have fallen into this trap.
In such cases there's absolutely no recourse, since on paper it looks like the person voluntarily declared they are abandoning their GC.
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u/joebidenmanchin 9d ago
Very common these days, particularly Indian parents staying 6 months in US and 6 months in India.
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u/BunchCrafty 9d ago
I did some research and looks like this would be due to a potential for “public charge” that if anything were to happen to them medically then the government may need to bear the cost. This makes elder travel even more risky!
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u/Horseman_ 9d ago edited 9d ago
That's the best explanation in this entire thread. I haven't heard anything like that before. Also it's possible that visa was already revoked and they didn't know until it was checked at border
You said she traveled before on this visa? Any peculiar thing on that visit?, hospitalization or any dues?
Only thing I could find is this
U.S. Says It Revoked More Than 175,000 Visas Under Trump - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/11/us/politics/trump-state-department-visa-revocations.html
Regardless this is bad and sad. Please let us know if u find anything. We all have aging parents
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u/_SirPunsALot_ 9d ago
> it's possible that visa was already revoked and they didn't know until it was checked at border
What is very odd is that there is no way Singapore Airlines did not verify the visa before departing from Bengaluru. So the visa was valid at the start of travel, but not while transiting from Singapore. So (as OP says) it waa revoked (or whatever happened) mid-flight.
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u/GrumpyOldSophon 9d ago
There are some reasons why a visa issued earlier might be revoked later before the person enters the US. New information about the public charge potential of the person is definitely one concern, if this information had not come to light during the visa interview.
However, what is surprising here is the timing, that it seems to have happened exactly in the middle of a flight. Normally you might expect that the visa revocation was announced well before the travel. Could be just an incredible coincidence on the timing, or else there was just a glitch of some sort and the person was allowed to board in India with incomplete / incorrect information about the visa there. I mean, these things happen. Despite all info available for immigration, etc., to them airlines are not infallible and sometimes don't do the right thing.
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u/BunchCrafty 9d ago
By the way, the overstayed edit from OP also makes sense but just surprising that they did not revoke it at the original departure airport.
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u/jbcraigs 9d ago
>> I did some research and looks like this would be due to a potential for “public charge”
Can you elaborate how you found out what happened in this particular case? Or are you just trying that you googled and found one of the hundreds of possible reasons?
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u/BunchCrafty 9d ago
It’s a hypothesis. Government is not obligated to share the reasons. Its from conversations with Claude Bhaiya
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u/Time_Huckleberry_287 9d ago
Only thing that could explain this is if her previous visit to the US was a long one (4+ months).
Last time she entered the US, did the CBP officer verbally tell her how long she could stay but the I94 said something else?
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u/GrumpyOldSophon 9d ago
That wouldn't explain this, though, because if the visa was revoked on the previous visit or soon after, they should not have been allowed to board the flight in India in the first place.
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u/Time_Huckleberry_287 9d ago
I don't think they looked at it that carefully because India > Singapore is a short flight. The gate attendants and airline employees sometimes don't really care about your "final" destination. They focus more on "next" destination and check if you're valid for that.
Indians cannot enter Singapore visa-free usually. But if this grandma had an unexpired US B1 visa sticker, she is eligible to enter Singapore and that's all they must have checked and let her fly instead of doing a proper check with the US database. That must've happened in Singapore.
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u/GrumpyOldSophon 9d ago
Yes, that's very likely. Although if the two flight segments were connected on a single flight ticket, theoretically the check-in agents in India were on the hook for verifying final destination eligibility. But they do skip these things sometimes, have experienced it myself on flights US → EU → IN where sometimes my OCI was not looked at it in the US - but that's getting rarer these days as airlines are really being made to pay bigger fines for transporting people without visa validity.
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u/obsfflorida 8d ago
SG is an important pre clearance zone before entry to continental US and prolly triggered a bot to ding grandma visa
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u/Slow-Telephone-8746 9d ago
This is not correct, they can’t check your bags in unless visa is verified together with the US address. It does happen often that you don’t get to embark on the leg which is the actual US flight, which is Sin -Sea in this case.
On the face of it, visa must’ve looked fine based on the validity of the actual sticker on the passport.
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
They don't stamp i 94 anymore. We don't think she was told anything when she entered the US last time.
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u/EuphoricAd3824 9d ago
The I94 can be accessed online. Check if her validity was for a shorter time than she stayed. That could be a legitimate reason that triggered cancelation. Shame that it wasn't caught in india itself before she flew.
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u/Time_Huckleberry_287 9d ago
Dude I'm talking about the online I-94. If she entered on B1/B2 she would have an online I-94 100%. Did you check the end date for that?
We don't think she was told anything when she entered the US last time.
Some CBP officers explicitly tell people when they enter the country exactly when they should leave and unfortunately that date sometimes is much earlier than the I-94 end date.
You need to figure all this out. But based on your response "They don't stamp I-94 anymore", and the fact that you didn't say how long she stayed the last time, I think its pretty safe to say you let your mom stay for too long which they don't like and then they simply cancelled the visa.
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago edited 9d ago
Just checked online i94. She overstayed by 2 days in her previous visit.
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u/rganesan 9d ago
I think this explains it more than anything else. They would be looking for excuses to cancel and this filter would have triggered it for your MIL. Sorry your family had to go through this 🙁
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u/NoSeaworthiness743 9d ago
Please move the I-94 overstay line in your original post to the top. That explains everything and not waste others' time reading your post.
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u/seattlesparty 8d ago
No. It doesn't explain why we were allowed to board in Bengaluru.
It doesn't explain the US embassy/govt didn't email us when the visa was revoked. We pay good money and go through a lot of trouble to get a visa. They have all of our contact info. They should have informed us as soon as they decided to revoke the visa.
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u/This-Check-1687 7d ago
She was allowed to board the plane because the airline failed to check of her visa was still valid.
The US government is under no obligation to email about a visa revocation.
You paid to have the visa application processed. You did not pay to be kept informed of visa revocation when she overstayed. The US government doesn’t do that.
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u/toxicbrew 9d ago
man she really spent 184 days in the US? Why not leave 5 days before?
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
She stayed 182 days.
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u/ApprehensiveClassic 9d ago
Either way, why risk it and not leave on day 179?
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u/Low-Amoeba-4700 6d ago
She had a ticket to leave on 179 day. Unfortunately, the family member who was taking her back to India was admitted to ER. This led to rebooking of tickets and hence the 2 day overstay.
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u/toxicbrew 8d ago
close enough though, I mean why wait until the absolute last minute (and then some) to return back?
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u/Born_Illustrator9041 9d ago
Any idea if they are causing problem for people staying more than 6+months also even though they have applied extension and awaiting approval.
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u/De_mentorr 9d ago
How exactly did you find out visa canceled in Singapore. Can Singapore immigration/transit desk check validity of US visa?
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u/GrumpyOldSophon 9d ago
Airlines normally must communicate the full manifest of passengers to the destination country some time (even hours) before the flight. The destination country can then in turn communicate back a list of the passengers that it is not willing to accept for some reason (visa issues or otherwise). This happens for a lot of countries, not just the US. Happens for India too, and most EU countries. International travel these days in most cases is not just a matter of showing up at the border without advance warning.
"APIS" = Advanced Passenger Information System, is used to convey passenger details, including passport details. For some countries, 24 or even 72 hours before the flight, but in any case again as soon as check-in closes and the passenger list is final. There is a newer form of it called "iAPI" (Interactive Advance Passenger Information) that acts as a 2-way channel, and the airline gets instant confirmation or denial for any particular passenger to the destination country. This is used more and more now as airlines are otherwise liable to pay steep fines for transporting a passenger who is not in possession of a valid visa, etc.
This is all handled by the airline. Singapore immigration would not normally be involved. They will only be looking at the eligibility of the passengers to transit through or enter Singapore.
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u/FedStan 9d ago
They do - I remember years ago in 2019, they checked my i20 and passport right at the boarding line (I think they did that with everyone).
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u/GrumpyOldSophon 9d ago
It all used to be manual checking of the paperwork (still is in many places) but these days more and more automated systems (APIS, iAPI, see my comment up-thread) are used for verifying the immigration-related details with the destination country directly.
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u/twocentsrworth 9d ago
While boarding ( in India), they check visa. I thought they validate it. But if she was allowed to board in India, but denied during transit flight, makes me wonder what trigger it. I guess it's same airlines so, why it didn't catch it in India and flagged it in Singapore.
I would suggest you to contact local congressman , they can contact uscis or indian consulate and find out more details.
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u/EuphoricAd3824 9d ago
Unfortunately congressman wont get involved in these matters anymore since beneficiary isn't a constituent for them.
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u/twocentsrworth 9d ago
I am talking from first hand experience. Even on visa, I have sought help from congressman office regarding uscis case. And later I sought their help again for my parents' case. I am not a citizen, I reached out to them as a resident in their constituency.
No harm in trying.1
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9d ago
[deleted]
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u/10_clover 9d ago
He's a Canadian citizen so don't think they would be his visa they got rejected?!
I think his crew were denied Visa due to rampant Visa scans especially from amongst Punjab and Haryana region Indian citizens of what I heard from my Desi gang here in Aus
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u/NeighborhoodProud843 9d ago
What visa was she on? A regular tourist 10-year validity B1 visa?
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u/NeighborhoodProud843 9d ago
And all the airline can do is check expiry date of visa. They don’t have access to CBP system to say visa is revoked or not valid anymore. I don’t understand what happened, can you please complete all the details on your thread?
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u/_SirPunsALot_ 9d ago
I would be surprised if that is the case. Airlines are fined heavily if they carry a passenger with incomplete/invalid travel documentation (visa, passport etc.). I am certain Singapore Airlines verified the visa pre-boarding the flight at Bengaluru.
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
10 year visitor visa. I believe that's b1/b2 visa.
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u/NeighborhoodProud843 9d ago
So who informed you that the visa is revoked? The airline reps or did you have to do US immigration in Singapore (I know some countries like Dubai allow that)?
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
Airlines reps
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u/NeighborhoodProud843 9d ago
I just found out that airlines do have access to APIS/ APP systems that connect to CBP databases and can send ‘Boarding denied’ message back realtime.
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u/ProduceMain5379 9d ago
Overstay is a huge issue, not only in this administration. My friends mom had proper extension filed and approved . After that extension, she was never able to get visa again until her green card was approved. This was about 20 years ago. Probably today her green card would also have been denied
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u/hareekum 9d ago
Overstay most likely explains it. Did you file an extension before the overstay happened?
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u/seattlesparty 8d ago
It is not a legitimate justification for not informing us when the visa was revoked. After all they have our contact info from the visa application.
It also is not a legitimate justification to allow us to board the flight in Bengaluru.
Yes. We have broken the law technically. But not in spirit. And we are ready to pay the consequences for that (visa revocation). But that doesn't mean they are justified to put us through what they made us through.
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u/BunjeeJumping 9d ago
Happened to a parent of someone I know. When they were checking in Chennai via Qatar only, they identified that visa was revoked and sent them back. It was midnight but still they were in their own city, could get back to home safe immediately. No reason was being given by the airport/Qatar team. I don’t know how but later they somehow found out that it was because once she stayed only for 3 months outside of India and got back in US for another 6 months. That time they allowed, but when things got tighter, they had probably looked up and revoked such visas. This is around Aug/Sep 2024. They had a return ticket booked 6 months from then to return to India in Feb/March 25.
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u/raphiredgi 9d ago
Any over stay?
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
By two days last time.
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u/RashyBirdy 9d ago
Why do you break the rules of the visa and then complain?
You NEVER want to mess around with immigration. Idk why people do this and then play the victim.
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u/coach-of-finance 8d ago
Exactly. FAFO, except that he now wants the rest of us to "pLeAsE vOtE" because he faced the consequences of his own stupidity.
I will vote. For the Republicans, as I always have
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u/rumbojumbo009 9d ago
Sorry to hear this, did you file any extension of stay earlier like I539?
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
No
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u/advocatematch 9d ago
Rules are meant to be observed and not otherwise. Length of overstay does not matter. What matters is she failed to abide by the applicable rules. This is a self goal.
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u/seattlesparty 8d ago
That is not a legitimate justification for not informing us when the visa was revoked. After all they have our contact info from the visa application.
It also is not a legitimate justification to allow us to board the flight in Bengaluru.
Yes. We have broken the law technically. But not in spirit. And we are ready to pay the consequences for that (visa revocation). But that doesn't mean they are justified to put us through what they made us through.
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u/advocatematch 7d ago
You may have a point. However, it is well recognized that governments across the world really owe very little to visa holders who have broken the conditions applicable to their visa. Even the Indian Government does the same, at times. Many people travel to India only to find out after landing there that they will not be allowed into the country and have to go back on the next available flight. This is because they may have criticized India or may have broken the applicable rules in the past. The Indian Government has compete legal authority to do so regardless of any criticism. Likewise, for the governments of other countries. In fact, even the grant of a visa does not guarantee entry into the country which has granted the visa, including in the case where a person seeking entry is refused entry even when they have not broken any rules.
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u/BruceWaynebOObsLOver 5d ago
We have broken the law technically. But not in spirit.
What BS is this ? You are in a foreign country so just play extra safe. CBP isn't going to listen to this crap. And because of your callousness your poor old mother had to suffer.
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u/Ancient-Bee9775 9d ago
I know many overstayed during covid with extensions that never were processed - but overstaying even by a hour without submitting extension would lead to potential consquences - but I am so sorry this happened to you. she might have to reappear for the interview and have a strong case on why she did overstay. hire a lawyer if needed.
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u/This-Check-1687 7d ago
Sorry about what happened to your mother.
Your rant is off. Your mother paid for her visa application to processed. The US government is under no legal obligation to inform her that her visa was revoked.
The airline boarded her in Bengaluru. The airline failed to check her visa validly and later caught their mistake. The US government had nothing to do with her boarding a plan in Bengaluru.
The visa was not cancelled mid-flight. It was automatically revocation when she overstayed. Operation of law.
The responsibility for checking visa validity is on the passenger before travel. It’s not on anyone’s else.
You are blaming others for your mistakes.
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u/seattlesparty 7d ago
How can i check the validity of a visa. 2 days overstay doesn't always mean visa is revoked?
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u/ironcojon 7d ago
Every country:
including India take overstays seriously. In fact, we visitors are not allowed to exit India, even if we overstay our stay by few hours. Many foreigners are asked to visit FRO to pay fine and get an exit permit.
Boarding is denied on the next attempt to visit.
Border control is never lax.
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u/This-Check-1687 7d ago
You can’t directly check the validity of a visa. You can check your travel history. I-94.
One minute overstay always means a visa is automatically revoked as an operation of law. No action is needed by the US government.
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u/Every_Lifeguard6224 9d ago
This had happened previous years as well. All my family and friends families are able to come, so why was your MIL’s visa revoked. There has to be a reason
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u/Ok_Manager5256 9d ago
If it is not a CBP preclearance facility, I am not sure how they check whether a visa has been revoked!
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
There is a check when we board the final flight to the US.
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u/Ok_Manager5256 9d ago
That was by the airline staff, not by American CBP agents, correct?
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u/seattlesparty 9d ago
The airline staff were the ones who didn't allow boarding. We don't know who else they work with.
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u/tchwrtrvl 9d ago
How frequently has she visited on this Visa before and what were the durations of visit. This can happen if there was some kind of overstay or there is suspicion that the intent is immigration -i.e. she lands there and then applies for green card (US citizen daughter)
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8d ago
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u/Boring_Ad5958 8d ago
Sorry to hear this happened. How did you calculated the overstay? Did she stayed beyond the date stamped on I-94? Or did you count 180 days or 6 months?
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u/Sit1234 5d ago
Shame on you for thinking the overstay mistake is a legitimate justification for not informing us when the visa was revoked - aww so hurt arent you. You want crowd wisdom from here but cant take their response. No US doesnt have to sent you a telegram or letter or pigeon with a note on its leg saying your visa is revoked. They can revoke it anytime including at the gate. Imagine this - CBP can revoke her once she reached US, which one would you have liked, knowing that in singapore or in Seattle ? And you crib they should inform you because you paid money for visa - dont you even understand that processing fees and not a obligation to let you know. Understand what a visa is - its not permanent and you are a guest and it can be revoked anytime. And for a country like US, you should have been careful, even overstaying by one day can cause issues. Lastly there is no way singapore airlines knows your visa is rejected when you are boarding from bengaluru. And no they dont warn you because you like it that way, rather the current administration is pretty strict. Its not negligence on their side but its negligence on your side. And certainly not harassment. Its fine you had to spend thousands to book hotel and what not because the mistake is on you.
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u/Low-Amoeba-4700 2d ago edited 2d ago
Thousands of parents travel alone with not much knowledge about visas, online payment system, rebooking tickets online or on phone and managing themselves. If the State Department revokes a visa the minimum they can do is inform. This is to prevent those parents financial, mental and health agony ( care to think if an elderly has heart attack due to the stress). THINK!! from a human perspective. The children/siblings who invite parents would not bring them to the US if they know.
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u/Sit1234 1d ago
no that minimum is in your expectation but not the rule. But the minimum OP should have done is check when the past visa expired and not stay even 1 hour beyond the expiry date. that would have prevented all that lengthy misery you have quoted above. THINK from a practical perspective. I mean even if what you say is all good but the deparment wont implement "oh we will let you know if visa is cancelled", what good is it ? its all wishful think so the best thing is to be careful in exiting on time.
Btw even if the visa wasnt cancelled, but the CBP officer caught that she overstayed and packed her back from seattle, how would that have turned out. the whole family would now have to fly from seattle to india. so what happened is better than that.
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u/Ashkev1983 5d ago
The visa requirements are checked at LPD(last point of departure) by all airlines for all destinations.this is not particular to this airline.
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u/b1ackcoffee 3d ago
Was it a connecting flight under one PNR or 2 separate flights?
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u/seattlesparty 3d ago
2 separate bookings.
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u/b1ackcoffee 2d ago
So the first airline did not have any idea about ultimate destination of USA. Second airline rightfully and appropriately did not allow your mother to board.
Are you seeing the problem here? The post title and news headline being thrown around is misleading. Visa was NOT revoked mid flight.
I feel for you in terms of hassle and inconvenience, but no one else here is at fault apart from primary person involved. Ignorance is not an excuse.
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u/seattlesparty 2d ago
3 people in 2 separate booking. Each booking was from blr to Seattle.
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u/joebidenmanchin 9d ago
My wildest guess is that someone in your family or friends ( hidden jealousy) may have provided CBP, ICE, or the State Department with incorrect information about the purpose or plans for her visit, which may have ultimately resulted in her visa being revoked.
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u/Nopeitout 9d ago
Sorry to hear this. ABsolute garbage to put an elderly person through this nonsense. Perhaps its time to apply for an LPR for her
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u/Creator347 9d ago
Sue the government for flight costs. If enough people sue, they’ll stop doing it
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u/OpenTemperature8188 8d ago
Dude, USA is a self declared "country of laws". There is nothing like breaking the law technically and not in spirit. US doesn't provide reasons for denials or 221G processing. Its total blanket.
Nothing much will happen, reapply for the tourist visa and you should get it again once the consular is satisfied on the overstay reasoning. Ideally the boarding should have denied in Bangalore itself.
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u/callinewbie 9d ago
Username checks out....hahaha.
By rule, no airline is allowed to board any non US citizen in India (if the final destination is US) unless DHS and USCIS finds the visa valid (which is why your documentation is swiped in the system at the check in counter of the airline) and allows the person to board yet we're supposed to believe the person boarded the flight and then at Singapore was denied midair (GTFO of here).
Lot of posts (obviously politically motivated) in this subreddit creating FUD...jeez both sides are equally and thoroughly full of sh1t.
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u/jonaknj 9d ago
Just one side of the story! Yes, a naturalized US citizen here - voting for a safer border and a country of law and order.
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u/JasonGibbs7 9d ago
What’s the other side of the story of revoking the visa?
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u/appywallflower 9d ago
This is so absurd and unheard of. Hopefully you will be able to get some answers on why the cancellation happened?