u/hakeemolajuwon85

Big US bank recruited me in June 2026. Had 3 interviews, met recruiter, hiring manager, and team member. This all happened in the course of 3 days so interest was mostly showed by them. It went great and we even talked relocation to their NY offices. They did mentioned political factors exist for the visa that they can't control.

1 month later they come back and tell me they cannot move forward with me, but they’ll keep me posted if such thing changes.

I need help understanding what happened because the timing makes 0 sense.

Background:

1. I was NOT applying. Recruiter DM'd me on LinkedIn.
2. They KNEW I was abroad with no precedents of US working visa from day 1. It's on my resume and we talked about it in both interviews.
3. After rejection, the role was reposted on LinkedIn half hour later. So i could think there weren’t other candidates.

My questions:

1. Why would a big bank that sponsors H1Bs every year spend 1 month on a foreign candidate in JUNE if lottery is dead? Did policy change mid-process?
2. "Political factor we can't control" - is this the rumored $100k H1B fee proposal? Or something else in June 2026?
3. Has anyone else been dropped mid-process in 2026 or before like this? Is there any silver lining?

I'm not mad at them. They were great. This feels like something else pulled the plug…

If you got a similar "political factor" rejection this year, please share. Trying to figure out if this is industry-wide now.

Thanks.

About a month ago, a senior recruiter in BOA reached out to me on LinkedIn about a specialized role. He said he normally doesn't do these kinds of interviews anymore, but because the position was niche and difficult to fill, he wanted to speak with me directly before sending me through the formal process. We had a Teams call where he asked about my experience, languages, salary expectations, and work authorization. He then sent me the application, which I completed immediately, and told me the hiring manager would contact me.

A few days later, I had a second Teams interview with the hiring manager and another senior team member. The interview was technical but relaxed. They asked about my experience and were transparent about the role. Whenever I didn't have direct experience with something, I answered honestly instead of trying to oversell myself. We also discussed relocation and work authorization (I have never worked before in the US and don't have an H-1B), but they seemed aligned on those topics.

At the end, I asked a couple questions and They told me the process would take some time and that they'd be in touch.

That interview was a month ago, and I haven't heard anything since. No rejection, no update, nothing. I'm trying not to overthink it, but I'm curious how others would interpret this timeline. Is this normal for large banks, or should I assume they've moved on?