A limited number of H-1B specialty occupation workers will be able to renew their visas in the US as soon as January. The Department of State is working to extend interview waivers for certain temporary visas and offer a digital visa for travel to the US. The rollout of the H-1B domestic visa renewal pilot will be limited to just 20,000 participants at first. It will would allow H-1B holders to renew their visas by mailing them to the State Department rather than travel outside the US and face uncertain wait times to secure an appointment at a US consular office before returning. Backlogs have persisted in some countries. Without the domestic renewal option, workers whose visas were expiring have to get an appointment for a visa stamp at a consulate or embassy abroad and risk being stranded many months outside the USA. Especially high backlogs in countries like India, the biggest source of H-1B workers. Some H-1B workers have pursued work-arounds such as traveling to nearby countries with fewer backlogs—such as Canada—to secure visa appointments.