Carnival cruise to Bahamas with valid H1B but expired visa stamping

K

krishsen

New Member
Hello

Asking for my friend who is in US with valid I-797 for H1B but visa stamping has expired in Indian Passport.

Planning to go for 4 days Carnival closed loop cruise from Jacksonville to Bahamas.

Can they allowed back to US? Will there be any issue for re-entering due to expired visa in their Indian passports? Will it be an entry in their I-94 for their cruise travel?

Appreciate your help.

Thanks

Senthil
 
krishsen said:
Hello

Asking for my friend who is in US with valid I-797 for H1B but visa stamping has expired in Indian Passport.

Planning to go for 4 days Carnival closed loop cruise from Jacksonville to Bahamas.

Can they allowed back to US? Will there be any issue for re-entering due to expired visa in their Indian passports? Will it be an entry in their I-94 for their cruise travel?

Appreciate your help.

Thanks

Senthil
Click to expand...
Hi Senthil.

Did you land up traveling? if so how was your re entry experience?

thank you in advance.
 
You probabily would not get a response from Senthil. It's almost an year since he logged on to these forums.
In my opinion, a valid I-797 should be ok.
 
The problem is that Automatic Revalidation for statuses other than F and J only apply to travel to Canada or Mexico. Only F and J status can use Automatic Revalidation to re-enter after travel to adjacent Caribbean islands. So if you can't use Automatic Revalidation, and if it counts as leaving and re-entering the country, you would need a valid visa.
 
Hello All,

I want to share my travel experience with the exact same situation (Expired H1B Visa Stamp, Valid i-797). There is absolutely no issue travelling to Bahamas and coming back to US. I did closed loop 4 days trip from Port Canaveral.

1. During embarkment - Only Cruise authorities will check your documents - Passport, i-797, your facial photo will be taken and you will issued with Cruise Travel Card which will used all along the cruise.

2. No issues visiting any of the Islands.

3. On Disembarkation : No checks done, all you will go through a facial recognition check point, where the machine automatically does facial recognition against the picture taken during embarkment.

I was worried as well with all kinds of mixed information, but after some due diligence, I took a decision to go and it was surprisingly very easy to go and come back.

Thanks
 
I just logged-in to my account after almost 2 years (after April 2023).
I didn't even remember I had commented on this thread in April 2023. Was looking at new posts and saw this thread and saw the name BelRed. That sounds like the login I had created, couple of years back to start applying for Green card for a parent on mine.

I check the forum messages occasionally anonymously, to see what's happening in current immigration world.
This forum had helped me a lot while waiting for my Green card in 2000 - 2003 timeframe and N-600 application approval in 3 months in 2009.
 
VastRevolutionary158 said:
Hello All,

I want to share my travel experience with the exact same situation (Expired H1B Visa Stamp, Valid i-797). There is absolutely no issue travelling to Bahamas and coming back to US. I did closed loop 4 days trip from Port Canaveral.

1. During embarkment - Only Cruise authorities will check your documents - Passport, i-797, your facial photo will be taken and you will issued with Cruise Travel Card which will used all along the cruise.

2. No issues visiting any of the Islands.

3. On Disembarkation : No checks done, all you will go through a facial recognition check point, where the machine automatically does facial recognition against the picture taken during embarkment.

I was worried as well with all kinds of mixed information, but after some due diligence, I took a decision to go and it was surprisingly very easy to go and come back.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing the derailed information.

I am on same boat. I have booked a closed cruise for my wife for Mexico for 4 days for March 2025. My wife is on her separate H1B which is not stamped yet. She was on F1 visa before which is expired already. And We have booked a dropbox appointment for the month of May 2025. Are we good to use AVR as we would have dropbox appointment booked at the time of appointment?
It would be great if you can help here.
 
Hi , I’m on the same boat . Expired stamp but with valid i94. Im taking the same cruise line to Mexico in march . Could you confirm ?
 
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