H1B Stamping (renewal) in Merida, Mexico

[visaMerida]

I was issued visa on the same day without asking any question. However, next day morning I got a call from consulate saying there is a problem. They called me back to the consulate and asked me some question about my employer. such as the number of employees they have and all. Then they took my w2 and client letter and asked me to come back by noon to check the status. My stamped passport was with them. In the afternoon when i called them, everything was sorted out and i got the passport back.
I would recommend that you should go for stamping only if you have clean case.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have sent you an private msg please check you inbox on this forum.

[harishchandra]

My Experience

I was issued visa on the same day without asking any question. However, next day morning I got a call from consulate saying there is a problem. They called me back to the consulate and asked me some question about my employer. such as the number of employees they have and all. Then they took my w2 and client letter and asked me to come back by noon to check the status. My stamped passport was with them. In the afternoon when i called them, everything was sorted out and i got the passport back.
I would recommend that you should go for stamping only if you have clean case.

[visaMerida]

Hello there,

I am visiting Merida US consulate around September 12- 16 for H1B renewal.
Anyone going there around the same time frame?
Has anyone recently been there? how was the experience?

Hi harish,

How was your experience?Are you back? Will be really helpful if you can share questions asked to you. Also are you on EVC model?

Thanks

[visaMerida]

Hi I have h1b visa till sep 30. can i travel to Merida without tourist visa? also i have 4 months gap in my last year w2 will that work?

Yes you can travel but it is preferred to get Mexico visa so if you get stuck you can stay there for long. That gap should not cause any problems as long as you were not out of status. Prepare a quick answer to explain why you have a gap. Between when are you planning to go? I am planning to go in mid OCT.

[chvamsi]

Hi I have h1b visa till sep 30. can i travel to Merida without tourist visa? also i have 4 months gap in my last year w2 will that work?

[iamjustforkix]

The previous posts were extremely helpful and helped us get through my wife's stamping
process at Merida, Mexico. At the risk of repeating what others have explained, here's how
the process went:
We made the appointments (ASC for a Monday and CSC for the following day) a couple of months in advance. My wife had to get a Mexican tourist visa as her H1B stamp would've expired by the time we made the trip (this cost about $30 and took a couple of hours [we've a consulate in our city]). I've a valid H1B stamp and, since, May 2010, Mexico travel doesn't need a visa for valid H1B (and a few others...check their site) stamps for trips under 30 days. We flew into Cancun as tickets were way cheaper than flying into Merida. We took the ADO bus (kind of a nicer Greyhound version) to Cancun downtown bus station and then another one to Merida (there are direct buses too to Merida from the airport; it just costs more. Check the bus time/schedule at the ticketbus or ADO site. You could use google translate for help with Spanish or the lonely planet offline app for iphone). The trip was comfortable and took abt 4.5 hrs. We took a taxi (one which says 'Taxi Metro' in yellow on top as these are metered) to our hotel in 'centro' (city center, which has a bazillion hotels and restaurants). Our hotel was about 1.5 miles from the CSC and about 1 mile from the ASC. Merida is easy to get around since most of the streets ('calle') use numbers instead of names and are in increments of 2...check google maps to see what I'm talking about. Next day, after our city tour and siteseeing, we walked to the ASC center (which as of this writing is at the intersection of c.69 and c.66...check the Merida US consulate page...it provides details with a picture). The entrance is on the side through a big black gate. They checked my wife's passport, DS160 barcode page and appointment letter page and let her in. They put a sticker on the barcode page confirming the next day's CSC appointment date/time. The entire ASC process took less than 30 min. They also mentioned that most of the CSC cases for locals are done by 8am and that we could go earlier than our scheduled appointment time (10:30am). Accordingly, we went to the consulate (c.21 and c.31) the next day around 8am (took a taxi...cost about 4USD). They checked her barcode page, appointment letter and passport and let her in. As opposed to other consulates that I've been to, there was no one standing in line or waiting outside the consulate. I walked around the neighborhood, got some coffee and waited next to a restaurant a couple of buildings away from the consulate. My wife finally came out around 9:45am (most of her time was spent waiting as, it seemed, that there was only 1 consul interviewing everyone). The only question she was asked by the officer was- when she was leaving and when she needed the passport- and, since, we were planning on leaving Merida the next day, she asked if she could collect the passport the same day. The consul asked her to come back at 4pm to see if it was ready. So, we walked around, shopped (there's a Walmart nearby ) and went back to the consulate by 4. There were 6-8 people waiting to collect their passports (none for H1B). My wife went in and came out in about 15-20 min with her passport and the visa stamp. So, overall the process was a breeze (except for the waits). Merida is a good city to visit (except for the traffic during rush hour) and the people seemed to be really nice. Note: USD is widely accepted but, you'd do better using pesos either through the cash exchange places or your bank ATM (no charge for Bank of America customers to use Banco Santander ATMs). It'd also help to know at least a few words in Spanish. Gracias.

[visaMerida]

Appreciate your prompt response. Thanks for sharing your experience.
And yes, Congratulations!!!

Hi Harish,

I am also planning to go to Merida for my H1b visa stamping in Mid OCT. Please do share your experience with us.

Thanks

[chvamsi]

Hi I work in EVVC model and i have letters only from second vendor and i can take mail approvals from primary vendor and client. will that be enough to show in the embassy. what are my chances.

[harishchandra]

Thanks

Appreciate your prompt response. Thanks for sharing your experience.
And yes, Congratulations!!!

[talasila80]

Our Merida Exp

Hey, We returned from Merida last night after successful stamping. We left from Orlando to Cancun on Monday, 5th and went to Merida by bus from Cancun on the same day. Our ASC appointment was on 6th morning 9:30AM, we went there at 9:15 and they let us in exactly at 9:30. Took about 5 minutes to finish finger prints and photos. We went out and did some sight seeing the rest of the day. Our visa interview was on 7th morning at 9:45AM and we went there at 9:15, we had to wait in the queue outside, they did not let us in until 9:45.
After getting inside a lady verified my documents and gave us a token and asked us to wait along with others in the waiting area.
After 10 minutes I was called inside to the interview area (only me not my wife), one officer verified my documents again and took photo copies of my petition and attached the copies to our DS-160 print outs(He did not photo copy my wife's petition which was his mistake, as explained below), I was told to bring my wife in from the waiting area after this and wait till our number is called.
After our number is called I passed on the passports along with DS-160s and original petitions to the officer.He did not look at the original petitions and looked at only photo copies that were attached to DS-160s. My wife's petition went unnoticed. He asked me for our company website which I gave it to him. He asked me how long have I been working for this company or has anything changed since my last stamping. I said 4 yrs and nothing changed since last time.
He typed something for a while and said he has a problem and asked us to take a seat. After about an hour we were called again and told me that he is having trouble issuing 2 visas for us. Apparently the system was not allowing him to issue 2 visas, H1B for me and H4 for my wife. He said he has to contact DC office regarding this and asked us to go out have lunch and come back after 2-3 hrs. He gave us an yellow paper, which we needed to show the security outside after we come back, so that they can let us in.
We went out and had lunch did some shopping and came back and showed the security the yellow paper office gave us.
They called someone from the security booth and the officer who verified our documents in the morning came out and told us that nothing has been resolved yet. He also wanted to see my original petitions one more time. I gave him 2petitions and he was surprised that there were 2 and not 1.
He did not realized that there were 2 petitions (one for me and other for my wife) in the morning, so he stapled 2 photo copies of my petition to both our DS-160s. The interviewer tried to issue 2 visas on my petition, which the system did not let him.
At this point he took our petitions inside and came back out in 5 minutes and said everything is fine and we can collect our visas the following day at 4PM.
We collected the passports the following day at the embassy and took the bus from Fiesta Americana to Cancun and flew back to Orlando, no issues.
Make sure you know a little spanish, while shopping or taking taxis you need spanish, most of them don't even understand english numbers or basic english, I relied very much on my Google Translate app on my Captivate for communications :-)
I will be happy to answer any more questions.

Hello there,

I am visiting Merida US consulate around September 12- 16 for H1B renewal.
Anyone going there around the same time frame?
Has anyone recently been there? how was the experience?

[harishchandra]

H1B Visa Renewal Merida

Hello there,

I am visiting Merida US consulate around September 12- 16 for H1B renewal.
Anyone going there around the same time frame?
Has anyone recently been there? how was the experience?

[shervin143]

You can go to Mexico or canada for stamping. Whether you will get a 221g for additional administrative processing or not is nobody's guess. And the information about everyone getting a 221g in India is wrong. Only the people who get 221g are posting here. There are also many successful stamping. However, if you don;t work directly for your employer or a direct client of your employer, the chances of a 221g is high these days.

hi,

I am planning for an India Trip and need to go for H1B stamping. I have seen that almost all the cases in India are going on Additional Admin Processing.

I work in EVC(Employer,Vendor,Client) model and currently working in USA from past 5 years with the same employer. My previous 2 stampings were done in India and have my education done from India.

Can you please suggest if I can go to Merida, Mexico for stamping and is it safer?

Thanks a lot for your help in advance.
Prakash

[prakash24256]

hi,

I am planning for an India Trip and need to go for H1B stamping. I have seen that almost all the cases in India are going on Additional Admin Processing.

I work in EVC(Employer,Vendor,Client) model and currently working in USA from past 5 years with the same employer. My previous 2 stampings were done in India and have my education done from India.

Can you please suggest if I can go to Merida, Mexico for stamping and is it safer?

Thanks a lot for your help in advance.
Prakash

[talasila80]

Question

Thanks a lot for the useful information, I am planning to go to Merida on Sep 5-6 along with my wife,
We both have valid US visa which expires on Sep 30th.
I was told (and I did some research online) that we don't need mexican tourist visa if we have a valid US visa in our passports.
Please confirm this and let me know if any of you had any issues.
also how long does it take for DHL to get the passport? 1 or 2 days??
Thanks in advance
Sri

I talked to the Mexican consulate in orlando and they suggested that we get a mexican visa just to be safe.
Technically we do not need a tourist visa as long as there is a valid US visa in the stamp, but when I mentioned that my current US visa expires the end of September she suggested that we take a tourist visa just to be safe.

[manishgarg1976]

Merida US visa stamping Aug 22 -30

Hi ,

I am planning to go to Merida for US visa stamping Aug 22 -30. Any body planning in that time frame please contact [email protected]

Case
Last H1 stamping done in India in 2008 expired in Sep 2010
Currently working in company - client model

Thanks