H1B, H4 Visa

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

Hello - I had two I-797 petitions when I went for my H-1B visa stamping last week:

1. Valid from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2019 (current petition)
2. Valid from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2022 (extension petition)

When I filed the DS-160, I provided my latest petition details because I didn't want a visa stamp that was going to be valid for just a few months. At the interview the consular officer didn't ask me for any documents (including my I-797), and I just assumed everything was fine.

Well I picked up my passport today and I saw that there is an annotation on visa saying "NOT VALID UNTIL 21-JUN-2019". It looks like the officer just completely ignored my current I-797 that's valid till 30th June 2019 and now it looks like I can't return to the US until June.

I am supposed to be travelling back to the USA on March 20th with my family including two small children and I don't have any other valid visa stamp that I can use to enter the US.

Is there a way the visa stamp can be changed again with a valid start date? I've already emailed [email protected] but they will take up to 48 hours to respond.

I'm not sure what the right option is for ME:

1) Apply for another interview in person,
2) Submit new application is via drop box, or
3) Compose a letter explaining the annotation error in the visa stamp and attach all supporting documents and try to submit it at my local VFS office for correction.

Please help!!!

I would be appearing for stamping interview for my H1B extension on 20th March. I have a valid visa for 4 and a half months left now. I need to travel India on emergency visit. Will the validity duration have any kind of impact on issuing Visa ??

Hi

This has been a wonderful forum

I am planning to go for my 5th visa stamping in Canada(previous ones are in Mexico(1) and India(3))  and this will be my first time in Canada,  trying to figure out 

1.Looking for experiences for people who has got their 5th visa stamping or higher in Canada recently?I looked at other posts ,couldn't find many ,so anyone who recently go this done ,appreciate any replies

2.Anything particular Consulate location in Canada is preferable?

I had my visa interview on march 7th, 2019. VO asked basic questions like wedding date, photos, ever worked on opt? opt dates and what you have done on OPT period?

Later he retained passport and gave 221g white slip(no checkbox, plain white paper with some text on it) saying he may need some more documents for administration processing and said that i don't need to worry.

I haven't received any email or call as of now. does anyone on the same boat for h4? or does any has the same experience in recent days and if so, how many days it took to complete the process? please let me know.

Hello,
Here is my H1B and H4 Visa experience

I am eligible for Drop Box. I have choose to drop documentation at Hyderabad consulate office.

Feb 14th: Dropped my documents
Feb 19th: I got an email to attend for finger prints and visa interview.

Feb 22nd: I have attended H1B visa interview at Hyderabad consulate.

VO asked some basic questions and later issued 221g white slip - Administrative Processing.

Asked questions
VO: Good Morning
Me: Good Morning officer
VO: Where do you work
Me: I work for xxxx company.
VO: Are you a full time employee
Me: Yes, I'm a full time employee
VO: What is your designation
Me: Answered
VO: Highest qualification
Me: Answered
VO: What is your salary?
Me: Answered
VO: When is your OPT started?
Me: Answered
VO: When is your H1B started
Me: Answered. It is my extension
VO: Do you know about your rights.
Me: Answered
VO: I am issuing a 221g white slip. It will take 1 or 2 weeks to process your visa. Nothing to worry about
Me: Thank You

Feb 28th: In CEAC website last update was 02/28/2019 and changed status to Issued
Mar 1st: Got an email from US Embassy that the passport was returned by the consulate. I checked status it is ready to pickup.
Mar 3rd: Collected my passport with visa stamping.

Hopes this helps someone
All the best

Hello All,
I had my finger Prints on Feb-24 and H1-B visa appointment on Feb-25 at Hyderabad.

Consulate person already gave my passport to VO before I joined at the window.

Questions:
VO: Good morning, How are you doing?
Me: Very good morning, thanks for asking. How are you doing?

VO: Do you work for YYYY X company?
Me: Yes sir

VO: Do you work in-house or at client location?
Me: I am full time to the company, so work in-house.

VO: How much is your annual pay?
Me: YYYY XX

VO: What is your designation?
Me: YYYY X

VO: Is this your 1st H1?
Me: No sir.

VO: Who is your prior employer?
Me: YYYY X.

VO: You worked for previous emploer for 12 years in US, what made you to change to the new employer?
Me: New employer recruiter found my profile in Linkedin and they reached me out. Considering the personal growth and company values, I have made the tough decision.

VO: Your Visa is approved and Have a safe travels.
Me: Thank you sir. Have a good day.

Picked up the passport on Feb-27.

I am working in US for the last 13 years and a Full Time employee to US Company.

It was about 2/3 mins for all these questions. Be confident in answering to the VO.

Good luck.

Hi,

Drop box experience

I landed in Hyd on 21-FEB-2019 and thought of submitting my documents and passports on the same day. So went to Hyderabad Drop Box location and submitted my passports, I-797 documents and photos of mine (from Costco) and my wife's on 21-FEB-2019.

I went to my hometown on the same day and checked my status on the CEAC website as "Application Recieved". Yesterday I got a call from the US Consulate Hyderabad asking that I need to submit my latest photos again. He said that they sent an email on Feb 26th but I did not get it. I checked my Junk/Spam or Deleted emails but couldn't find it. So I traveled to Hyderabad from my hometown to the drop box location, took new photos near the drop box location and submitted my photos along with a letter that I have written manually stating that I got a call from so and so number and the time of the call and along with the document submission letter downloaded from the UStraveldocs website. The officer took my photos and the letter and submitted them.

I checked my status today i.e. on 08-MAR-2019 and it is still showing as "Application Recieved" since two weeks for me and for my wife.

I kindly request if any one had this type of experience please share. I am not sure what is next or just wait.

Thanks

I have my H1B visa stamp valid on my passport till 31-July-2019. I also received my new H1B approval notice valid from 01-Aug-2019 till 31-July-2022. Both are from same employer (visa stamp and I797 approval notice). I have full time job (NO EVC).

I am travelling to India on 10th March 2019 and returning back to US on 08-Apr-2019. I have couple of questions

1. I hope I can return back to US without going for visa stamping during my travel to India as my
    current visa stamp on my passport is valid till 31-July-2019 from my current employer. In that case I
    am not sure what duration I-94 I will get at port of entry? My attorney said you will get till 31-July-
    2019 only but then your future I-797 (which also has I-94 at the bottom) approved from 01-Aug-
    2019 till 31-July-2022 will automatically kick in and you are all set till 31-July-2022

2. is it worth to go for visa stamping (dropbox in my case) based on future I-797 approved till
    31-July-2022?

I appreciate if someone can suggest?

Hi All,

I had my visa interview on 02/19/2019 at delhi embassy. This is my first H1B visa and I am moving from F1(OPT) to H1B. Interview was very brief and VO said 'Visa is approved and you will get your passport in 5 days'.

It's been more than 11 days now and still the status on ceac tracking website shows 'administrative processing'. Create date is date of my biometrics and Last update date is my interview date. Is this delay normal, is anyone else also experiencing/experienced similar delays.

Questions asked:
What do I do?
Which US University I attended?