Visa Stamping from Canada/ Mexico

I'm planning to travel from USA to Canada with my newly issue CoPR to land first and send the H1B and H4 document to USA consulate. I know PR holders are eligible for Dropbox with courier in service. Please advise if I need to look for anything beyond this. My first stamp was done in my home country India. This is an extension.

Canada Post delivered my docs to Toronto Consular on Dec 13th..I have not received any update since then, it says "No Status".
Anyone with the same dates please keep updating so we can set our expectations right with the process...Thanks.

Dropbox(Courier In) -->Interview Experience; H1B; Toronto

I am a Canadian PR working in the US on H1B. I was initially eligible for Dropbox at Toronto but was later called for an interview. Here is my timeline.

10 Nov- Dropbox docs shipped.
11 Nov- Dropbox docs reached Toronto.
16 Nov- Status - App Recvd.
17 Nov.- Status- Refused and got an email to attend in person interview
18 Nov- Received passport back without stamping and AIS profile changed so I can book an appointment.
28 Nov- Got an interview date in May 2023
29 Nov- Wrote an explanation to expedite for business and medical needs. Expedited request accepted and took appointment for 5th Dec. (Did some rescheduling there from 8th Dec to 5th Dec)
5 Dec- Interview. Status -Approved.
12 Dec- Status- Issued
13 Dec- Passport Dispatched.
14 Dec- Passport received with visa stamp.

Also, In my case I had an old DS160 with old I797 for initial appointment. I was not able to update my appointment with the new DS160 and I797 so I took the new DS160 and I797 for the interview.

Can I carry mobile phone to US consulate in toronto?

Let me share my end-to-end experience.

1) Interview booked in Oct 2021 i.e. 13 months in advance and got interview date of 14 Nov 2022. H1B renewal for myself, H4 for spouse and son
2) Later on I managed to get an earlier appointment in the US Consulate in Singapore and got my H1B stamped from there
3) Drove to Vancouver from Seattle on Nov 13 afternoon
3) Nov 14 (10:00 AM): I and family visited US Consulate in Vancouver. I gave my papers and passport to my family who were interviewed by the visa officer. Their visa was refused and they gave a paper (Administrative Processing) with an email address where I was needed to submit a copy of my latest I-94 entry to US form.
5) Nov 14 (11:30 AM): I downloaded the latest I-94 and e-mailed its copy to the specified email address
6) Nov 14 (End of day): Status on CEAC site shown as "REFUSED" and asked to follow any local consular instructions
7) Nov 17 (10:13 AM): Received email from the consulate office acknowledging the receipt of I-94 and that it will be reviewed by the Consular officer. They will notify me if they need anything else, otherwise if the submission is acceptable, they we will continue with the process and that I will receive an email with further instructions when processing is complete.
8) Nov 22: Status on CEAC site updated to "APPROVED" and mentioned that the visa is in final processing and may take 10 working days
9) Nov 25: Status on CEAC site updated to "ISSUED" and mentioned that it may take take 10 business days to be shipped
10) Nov 30 (1PM): Received email from the consulate office that our documents are ready for pickup.
11) We had chosen BLS Collection Center on Hastings Street for pickup. We visited this site where the passports can be collected from 3-5PM only.
12) We got the passports and then returned to US (from Port of Blaine border crossing) on the evening of Nov 30.

Initially we were very worried that we were going through Administrative processing but we had submitted the required document. We felt relieved when the status changed to Approved. We did have to move our Air bnb every 3-4 days since we did not know when we would actually get back the passports. In all we stayed in Vancouver for 18 days and during this time, the posts on this forum were a great source. If anyone has a question not covered above and I can be of any help from our experience, please post. Thanks

Anyone gave interview recently in Toronto canada. My visa vias approved and i am still waiting for passport. DS160 status is approved.

Hi all,

I am an H1-B visa holder living in Arizona and have the Green Card PERM I-140 approved. I have the H1-B visa renewal stamping scheduled in June. This will be my fourth H1-B stamp on my passport. I have one done in Canada and the last two were done in India. I have Canadian PR and I was told I do not need a visitor visa to travel to Mexico.

I would like to know the experience of anyone who has successfully done H1-B visa stamping at the Nogales location. Please share any suggestion regarding hotel, transportation, documents to carry etc. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Rahul

Hello All,

I need an assistance for my H1 Visa stamping (In-person) Interview appointment booking. Right now, I am holding Canada WP only and NOT a PR candidate.

During initial Visa application submission, I have created a Visa application through visa waiver option for my H1B new from Canada and also did an Full payment for Dropbox in Toronto.

Then I realized later, that I may not eligible for drop box from Canada location because am NOT a PR holder, i need to go for Inperson. But I did all my payment also for wavier application. Currently, I haven't sent any documents to consulate after payment because of not eligible.

Can I create a new profile and submit the visa application again with another payment and new DS160 again, while drop-box (Wavier) application still remain in another profile?
In this case, can I create a new visa application request for In-Person appointment will it be any problem?.

Helpdesk/Customer Support said, they don't cancel the submitted application in visa portal. Please comments, if you have any such experience. Appreciate your help for this case.

Hello all,
I plan to get my first H1B visa stamped in Canada. I think I'm eligible for dropbox as I meet all conditions for it. I had a previous F1 visa that got expired in 2020. I'm also a PR of Canada. Has anyone got their H1B visa stamped successfully through dropbox in Canada whose previous visa expired in 2020 timeframe?
Also if for some reason the stamping gets refused and the consulate asks to come for interview, do they provide a interview date close to the refusal date or we have to wait like everyone for an interview slot?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I am an Indian citizen with my H1B stamp expiring in March 2023. I need to go back to India in May 2023 and seeing appointments first available only in September 2023 in India, I decided to apply for stamping in Canada (Toronto). Now that I have paid the visa fees for Toronto, I am seeing appointments only in December 2023. Has anyone been able to get appointments in Canada earlier?

Note: I do not have Canadian PR.