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Visa Stamping from Canada/ Mexico
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Vancouver Stamping 3/11 H4 (Wife), H1B Visa Revalidation (Self) - Drive by Land personal car
(MODS please remove if the other similar post - I accidentally posted it some other user experience and now I cannot delete it)
This forum has given me immense confidence to take risks and go for H4 stamping for my wife. Many people told me not to go to Canada due to high risks involved. I want to share our experience so you all can prepare yourself if you have a unique case like me. Other people may have different experiences. This is not a legal advice or suggestion but be mindful of unknown things that can happen.
We drove to Vancouver by car from SF bay area over the weekend. 12 hours straight to Tocoma overnight stay (Just south of Seattle) and another 3-4 hours to Vancouver. By mistake, we took the nexus line at Canada entry checkpoint (the rightmost line at checkpoint).
PLEASE DO NOT USE THAT LINE as that is for express entry with nexus card only. The officer was polite and asked me to go for inspection. Nothing serious, we spend 20 minutes and they stamped our passport for Canada entry. They told us that taking nexus line while going to US from Canada can have financial penalties.
The posted speed limits are in km/hr in Canada. A gentle advice is to follow other cars and do not rash drive. It is quite cold in Canada and luckily we had sunny day for travel. We have been staying in an Airbnb (private suite) in Burnaby – spending around 40 USD per day. Lots of Indian stuffs around south of Vancouver. I heard Surrey is full of them. There is a place called Payal Business center in Surrey with many Indian stores. I will check them out in coming next few days.
So, my visa expired in Dec 2017. My I-94 attached to time of last entry (or online version) expired on Aug, 2018. I got my H1 extension approved until Aug 2021 with a physical I-94 card attached to it. I didn't go for a visa interview since I have been receiving 221(g) for all my previous visa interviews for background check. I have a Ph.D. so I must submit my research, work profiles, etc. every time I go for stamping. :( Anyways, I opted for using visa re-validation for US return.
So, my wife was going for a H4 stamping. Simple reason that her H4 COS application has been pending since Aug 2018 and we didn't have plans to go to India in recent future. My wife went with all the documents I could think of. She had interview at 7:15 AM on 3/11 (today). All the processes - biometrics, etc. went quite well until the last visa interview. The VO was asking for my valid I-94. Since my visa and I-94 was expired, he didn't issue visa and instead issued 221 (g). He did look at I-94 attached to I-797 but he didn't take that as a valid document.
He gave a yellow sheet with header ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING. The remark was to submit I-94/Passport admission stamp - scan or photo" to an email. "VancouverAP at state.gov". Basically, he wanted me to go to CBP port of entry - enter USA and get an admission stamp based on my I-94.
Clueless, I called the CBP officer at Blaine (Seattle -Vancouver Border I-5 port of entry) and told about this new development. He suggested that I can get paper I-94 based on H1B extension and then return to Canada. (basically, use Automatic Visa Re validation (AVR)).
Not to lose much time, I drove back to Blaine CBP but the officer didn't let me drive by and asked me to head to secondary inspection. The pink note said, "no I-94" and "new H1B". Inside CBP building, the officer gave me a new I-94 paper card with admission stamp valid up to Aug 2021 (matching my I797). I narrated my story to him and he asked me to head back to Canada and I can re-enter USA using my new I-94 card.
Then I drove back to Canada and just spent like 5 minutes taking exit and entry ramps. At Canadian checkpoint, I had to narrate my story and tell them about i-94 admission stamp thing. The Canadian Officer at entry asked if I am going back to USA after my wife's stamping and take my car back to US. I said, ‘yes in a week’. She didn't stamp my passport and let me in. No issues here.
After coming back to Canada, we have submitted the US admission stamp and waiting for 221g to process. The Visa officer had said that after getting the admission stamp, he will process the visa within 3-5 business days. I didn’t get any email back or automatic reply but there was no email bounce back response. I checked spam folder and no emails there. Can someone respond if this is common not to expect any confirmation email from VancouverAP at state.gov???
Now, we are hoping for the best. We plan to cover suspension bridge and grouse mountain in next two days until my wife's passport is stamped. I made a friend while waiting outside embassy who owns a house in Vancouver Island. He will take us around the island and we will get to see British monuments. etc.
Sorry for a long post, I was **** scared and now it seems we have resolved many of the issues. I wanted to share the experience because I know this is one of the places where many of us come to understand the pros and cons of out of home country stamping
I will update the post once I receive any updates on H4 stamping and about our US re-entry via land.
Thanks
This forum has given me immense confidence to take risks and go for H4 stamping for my wife. Many people told me not to go to Canada due to high risks involved. I want to share our experience so you all can prepare yourself if you have a unique case like me. Other people may have different experiences. This is not a legal advice or suggestion but be mindful of unknown things that can happen.
We drove to Vancouver by car from SF bay area over the weekend. 12 hours straight to Tocoma overnight stay (Just south of Seattle) and another 3-4 hours to Vancouver. By mistake, we took the nexus line at Canada entry checkpoint (the rightmost line at checkpoint).
PLEASE DO NOT USE THAT LINE as that is for express entry with nexus card only. The officer was polite and asked me to go for inspection. Nothing serious, we spend 20 minutes and they stamped our passport for Canada entry. They told us that taking nexus line while going to US from Canada can have financial penalties.
The posted speed limits are in km/hr in Canada. A gentle advice is to follow other cars and do not rash drive. It is quite cold in Canada and luckily we had sunny day for travel. We have been staying in an Airbnb (private suite) in Burnaby – spending around 40 USD per day. Lots of Indian stuffs around south of Vancouver. I heard Surrey is full of them. There is a place called Payal Business center in Surrey with many Indian stores. I will check them out in coming next few days.
So, my visa expired in Dec 2017. My I-94 attached to time of last entry (or online version) expired on Aug, 2018. I got my H1 extension approved until Aug 2021 with a physical I-94 card attached to it. I didn't go for a visa interview since I have been receiving 221(g) for all my previous visa interviews for background check. I have a Ph.D. so I must submit my research, work profiles, etc. every time I go for stamping. :( Anyways, I opted for using visa re-validation for US return.
So, my wife was going for a H4 stamping. Simple reason that her H4 COS application has been pending since Aug 2018 and we didn't have plans to go to India in recent future. My wife went with all the documents I could think of. She had interview at 7:15 AM on 3/11 (today). All the processes - biometrics, etc. went quite well until the last visa interview. The VO was asking for my valid I-94. Since my visa and I-94 was expired, he didn't issue visa and instead issued 221 (g). He did look at I-94 attached to I-797 but he didn't take that as a valid document.
He gave a yellow sheet with header ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSING. The remark was to submit I-94/Passport admission stamp - scan or photo" to an email. "VancouverAP at state.gov". Basically, he wanted me to go to CBP port of entry - enter USA and get an admission stamp based on my I-94.
Clueless, I called the CBP officer at Blaine (Seattle -Vancouver Border I-5 port of entry) and told about this new development. He suggested that I can get paper I-94 based on H1B extension and then return to Canada. (basically, use Automatic Visa Re validation (AVR)).
Not to lose much time, I drove back to Blaine CBP but the officer didn't let me drive by and asked me to head to secondary inspection. The pink note said, "no I-94" and "new H1B". Inside CBP building, the officer gave me a new I-94 paper card with admission stamp valid up to Aug 2021 (matching my I797). I narrated my story to him and he asked me to head back to Canada and I can re-enter USA using my new I-94 card.
Then I drove back to Canada and just spent like 5 minutes taking exit and entry ramps. At Canadian checkpoint, I had to narrate my story and tell them about i-94 admission stamp thing. The Canadian Officer at entry asked if I am going back to USA after my wife's stamping and take my car back to US. I said, ‘yes in a week’. She didn't stamp my passport and let me in. No issues here.
After coming back to Canada, we have submitted the US admission stamp and waiting for 221g to process. The Visa officer had said that after getting the admission stamp, he will process the visa within 3-5 business days. I didn’t get any email back or automatic reply but there was no email bounce back response. I checked spam folder and no emails there. Can someone respond if this is common not to expect any confirmation email from VancouverAP at state.gov???
Now, we are hoping for the best. We plan to cover suspension bridge and grouse mountain in next two days until my wife's passport is stamped. I made a friend while waiting outside embassy who owns a house in Vancouver Island. He will take us around the island and we will get to see British monuments. etc.
Sorry for a long post, I was **** scared and now it seems we have resolved many of the issues. I wanted to share the experience because I know this is one of the places where many of us come to understand the pros and cons of out of home country stamping
I will update the post once I receive any updates on H4 stamping and about our US re-entry via land.
Thanks
All Replies (3)
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