Visa Stamping from Canada/ Mexico

Hi All,

I booked my stamping slot on Dec 11 but my passport hasn't come back with canadian visa and by tomorrow I have to either cancel or reschedule my appointment. I have to get stamping in dec or early Jan. Is there someone planning to cancel their visa appointment in Dec or early Jan in either Toronto or Ottawa? It is important for me to get the stamp as I have to leave the country late Jan for some work.

Thanks,
-Nik

Hi guys. I have been following this forum from the last few weeks and I wanted to share an unpleasant experience that my husband and me had to face.

We both had our H1B appointment ( 1st time for him and 2nd time for me) scheduled on 10/25/17 at 8:15 am at the Toronto consulate .

My husband is a Postdoctoral researcher at one of the top schools in the United States and I am a food technologist. As my husband’s work involves research and developing new technologies, we were prepared to answer a number of questions at our visa interview.
After the initial formalities, our interview began and as expected went on for over 40 mins (has been less than 5 in the past). We both were asked all kinds of questions about our job roles, description, salaries, career goals, etc., respectively.

After about 50 minutes of Q&A along with the V.O taking notes, starring at the computer, talking to other colleagues, we were certain all is not well. He responded to us as follows:

To me: Your visa has been approved. However there is a minor glitch as our SEVIS records indicate that you are still doing your Masters (crazy1 as it’s been 4.5 years since I graduated). Your visa will take several days to be issued , about 10 days.

To my husband: I am inclined to issue your visa, however your case requires additional administrative processing and this process can take up to SEVERAL MONTHS (crazy2). VO asked for his resume and informed we are already ahead in the game. We asked again if he required any other documents as we had each and every proof of anything we could possibly carry. VO responded that we will receive an email next.

Thus began our waiting journey (crazy 3). We did not know what to expect next; further documentation, visa issued, send your passport???. I received my passport within 6 days and was able to leave back to U.S on time. My husband received an email from the consulate, after 26 days, informing that his visa has been approved and he needs to send his passport for stamping. We thought, this is it ! and our wait has finally come to an end. But no, what happened after, infuriated us further as we had absolutely no updates once we sent out the passport. After a week, i.e on 11/28/17, the status changed to “Application received” (we had no idea how to interpret it) and then to administrative processing again the following day. Finally we received his passport on 12/04/17.

42 days of anxiety, nervousness, frustration, impatience and sadness.

Moral of the story:
1) Please do not go to Canada for H1B stamping if you are even remotely uncertain about your case (research background in our case). You will definitely get a 221g.
2) Do not book your return ticket unless you are extremely sure or till you receive the passport being shipped notice.
3) Do not ever ever ever schedule your visa interview around the holiday season. Causes further delays.
4) Please carry your resume. Very important
5) Patience is the only hope and you will need plenty of it.

It’s been a learning experience for sure but has cost us a lot of time, money, energy and emotions.

I just hope that no one will ever have to go through this including us.

Good luck! (Luck is all you need)

Sorry for spamming here as my Visa interview isn't done. I have a question.
Why is that people going to Canada for Visa interview rather than Mexico. I see slots open for mexico even tomorrow but not for canada.

Will there be any advantage doing in Canada?
Will it be tougher to get a visa from Mexico?

Any recent experiences for visa interviews in Mexico?

Hi,

I had my visa interview at the Vancouver embassy on 11/28 at 8:45. No issues during interview, interviewer said visa is approved, however he will need time to enter all my visa details so I should get it next week. The https://ais.usvisa-info.com site shows my status as "appointment" and the DS-160 status was last updated today.

Anyone seen this? Any idea on when I can expect the passport back? I did not get any 221g form

Interview date today Dec 4th 2017.

VO: Show me your 1-29 petition, not the 797 approval.
Me: passed the documents.

VO: Client and Employer questions.
me: answered.

VO: we have not found your info on PIMS DB.
It will take 2 to 6 weeks to show and we will email you for next interview process.

God knows how long it will take.

Thank you

sqldba.rao at gmail com

Interview in Vancouver on 11/28 (3rd extension of H1B & H4) with same company as FTE. For me, only question was what was my job. For my wife, she asked for highest degree and resume hard copy (which we did not have). She said mine was Approved and asked to email resume for my wife (gave yellow 221g with resume checked).

Status for both of us till 12/1 was as follows with the 11/28 last case update date.
"Your visa case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing. This processing can take several weeks, or longer. As explained on the day of your interview, if further information is needed, you will be contacted. If your visa application is approved when administrative processing is finished, you will receive notification to collect the passport with the visa from the Loomis branch you selected when you booked your appointment"

Is the above language standard - or does it imply out-of-normal process?

On 12/1 - My Visa changed to tracking number - delivery for 12/4 - no indication of outcome on the website.
For my wife, same original status from 11/28.

Any experience where Resume was asked for H4. Anytime we are asked to send additional documents - does that automatically mean lengthy delays?

My husband first entered US on F1. He travelled to India on OPT and came back.after that he applied for H1B , and have been working since 2010 till date, but he never left the country. Now we applied H4 EAD for him on my H1 and it is approved. To get the stamping done, can we go to Jamaica or Bahamas or Canada. I see that Mexico is out of option since 2014. Please advise.

Thanks to Immihelp forum .It really helped me to know people experience.It was easy and helpful to know what to carry ,questions,process , stay etc .
This is my Third time stamping in Ottawa for my L(Previously L1B - 2012,L1A - 2015 ).Right now i applied for my L1A @ Ottawa
1) My Visa Appointment Date - Today - December 01 2017 - 07:45 AM EST
2)i reached there around 7.35 AM and waited in Queue
3)Outside Embassy -Security person validated my DS160 and went inside embassy
4) Inside entrance - Officer validated my Passport & DS 160
5)Then went to Cashier officer and paid the Visa Fee
6)Then went to another counter where Officer scanned my latest photo (She asked - when i took ).So please carry recent one
7)Then went for Finger printing to another counter
8) Finally to Interview counter - Visa office asked below question and APPROVED my visa
   a) How long working with my XYZ employer ?
   b)How long staying in US?
   c) Who is your client ?
   d) How many people i manage ?
   e) what kind of project your working ? (development \migration etc )
   f)what your team members doing ?

He Approved my Visa and told i will get email in 3 -5 business days.

Before me everyone Visa was approved in Ottawa . Let me know if anyone need help

Regards
Jagadesh

Hi
I got my H1 stamped from Mexico in day without any problems back in June, now I took an appointment for my wife and daughter for their H4 stamping in Toronto as it close to my house in Michigan.

Day 1 (11/28) -> 8:15 VISA appointment time, they stopped by daughter stating children under age of 13 are not required for interview. My wife took her and my daughters passport in along with DS160 for both of them. The PO asked simple question like where does your husband works, show me your old VISA. She then took my (petitioner's I797) and said everything was done.

Day 2: 11.29 -> Status for daughter changed to Issued but there is no status update on my wife's passport and it still shows as Adminstrative Processing, no date change as well. Last update date is still 11.28.

Day 3 11/30 -> My daughter passport was mailed and we received courier tracking number, but still no update on my wife passport.

We are from US and its very expensive for us to keep staying in Canada, I called the DOS and they have no updates.

Any ideas how long or should I expect denial ?

Thanks

I am a silent follower of this forum. This forum has been very helpful for me in my previous H-1B visa stamping. I want to share my visa interview experience at US consulate in Montreal this month. I saw some 221g posts from Montreal consulate so I thought I will share my successful visa stamping story as well.
Background: FT Employee, 6 Years on H-1B, last two stamping are from Canada and Jamaica.

Let’s skip the accommodations and border situations. I had interview on Tuesday afternoon. Follow the security guidelines and other procedures in the consulate. For interview, visa officer asked me about job profile, how long I have been in US, marriage certificate, highest education and when did I last live in India. Asked about highest education to wife for H-4 visa. I was very impressed with visa officer, she connected all the dots and issued me the visa. She told me that passport would be ready to pick up in 3-5 days. Visa status changed to Administration Process on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday passport picked up by Canada post and I picked it up on Thursday. All in all, a wonderful experience, beautiful city Montreal. Don’t forget to try poutine while you are in Montreal.

Bottom line is every case is different and every day is different. Good luck to all of you. Message me if anybody has any specific question.