H-1 revalidation tracker in St.Louis/Washington

hi again,

sorry for the color selection. i didnt check with background.

the ins site quote i mentioned in prev message is :


(7) There is a required $100 non-refundable fee for each machine readable visa. Payment may be made by bank draft, money order, or corporate check made to the order of the "U.S. Department of State." Cash or personal checks are not acceptable. In addition, certain nationalities must also pay a "reciprocity fee." The amount of these fees vary from country to country.<b> In the case of multiple applicants, payment of all fees may be consolidated in one check</b>.
 
Re : Any more approvals

Mine's rcvd date is Oct 18, I called them they say it is approved
but there are printing problems. It is really annoying time-wise all the way from INS H-1B extension (from April) to all the way here. Just have to waste my year's end vacation.

:mad:
 
Vkjanam,

Please refer to the following paragraph.

$100 non-refundable visa processing fee is required for each applicant.(Except the citizens of Canada and Mexico.) Payment may be made by bank draft, cashier's check, money order, or corporate check or checks issued by your attorney's law firm made payable to the "U.S. Department of State." Cash or personal checks are not acceptable. In addition, certain nationalities must also pay a "reciprocity fee." The amount of these fees vary from country to country. In the case of multiple applicants, payment of all application fees may be consolidated in one check, and all reciprocity fees in another. But application fee and reciprocity fees can not combined, because visa application fee and reciprocity fee go into two separate accounts.

You can check this yourself over the web by clicking here

This site gives basically the same instructions as the department of state site, but with a bit more explanation.

I had exactly the same query whether to combine everything in one money order, but my company attorney said that I have to send separate money orders. So I sent two separate money orders for 200 dollars and 150 dollars (for myself and my wife).

In my opinion, I feel that they will not reject it just because you sent a single money order.
Worse case even if they reject, fix whatever is wrong and send it back immediately and they will send it in about 2 weeks time. It won't take another 8-10 weeks.

Good luck.

Techie8
 
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H-1/H-4 Visa Revalidated

On Saturday (Dec 21), I received my passport back with the new H-1 Visa stamp. My spouse's passport also received with H-4 stamp.

Received at DOS in St.Louis: Oct 11
Passports received from DOS, Washington: Dec 6 ...... No Visa stamped due to photograph being older than 6 months.

Sent back with new photographs the same day to DOS, Washington. I did not send the MRV fees or Reciprocatory fees the second time as per DOS advice. However, I had to send all other documents including DS-156, DS-157 again.

Received at DOS in Washington: Mon, Dec 9
Visa Stamped: Thu, Dec 19
Passports sent from DOS, Washington: Fri, Dec 20
Passports received by me: Sat, Dec 21

I had sent my and my spouse's ALL fees in ONE Official Check. I had sent the Original I-797 Approval notices for my H-1 and spouse's H-4. DOS returned it back with the passports. I used FedEx to handle all my documets. In fact, they got me the passports delivered on Saturday itself even though it was scheduled for Monday. It worked well for me since I'm leaving for a week's vacation today afternoon. Thanks for all your help and I wish people who are waiting for stamping all the very best.
 
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Hey guys, quick question,

When you send your passport etc. via fed ex, the return is just an airbill not an envelope with your credit card number?

Right or wrong?

Thanks,
akela
 
No credit card number reequired

Akela,

When you open a account with FedEx you have to give credit card number so that you can be directly billed. FedEx rep should give you an account number. Once you have your account number you can send a pre-addressed bill two ways.

1st method: Pick up an airbill from a FedEx authorized shipment centers like Mail Boxes etc or FedEx Business Center or drop box and fill up the requred info on it. You will have to put you account number(FedEx account number or Credit card Number) in item 7 (payment)

2nd method: Go to fedex. com and click on ship tab. You will have to open an account, if you already don't have one. This account is just to access fedex online. You can type in the sender and receipent infomation, type of shipment. You will be able to get a courtsey rate also. You can then print an airbill from fedex.com

Once you have a airbill generated from one of the two methods, put the airbill in the fedex envelope pouch and you should be ready with the pre-addressed fedex envelope.

Make sure you write down the tracking number so that you can track it around the time you expect to receive your re-validated passport.

Thanks.
 
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Passport Received

Good news for me, I got my passport back with ravalidated VISA on friday. Here are my details.

Sent to DOS : 10/28/02
Recd by DOS : 10/29/02
FEDEX Passport Received : 12/20/02

Good luck to all.
 
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Cpdelhi,
Thanks for you reply.

Now let me tell what I did (or as I was told by Fed ex guys)

I sent an airbill only (and no self addressed envelopes, of course the airbill was self addressed back to me), with my credit card info and priority (overnight). The guy tore off the front page of that airbill and gave it to me.

Know I know one of the gentelmen had to loose his passport since he did not send a self addressed envelope (the fedex guy said these people might be having their own envelope). So, is this how it is supposed to work.

Thanks

akela
 
ONe year after my visa hass been expired

I have a question about the time limitation on applying for visa revalidation in the US:

"A visa may be revalidated if it has a remaining validity of not more than sixty (60) days, or has not been expired for more than one year."

What is the compared date to the one year expiration date?
Is it the date the application is "received" in the St. Louis office?
The date the application is "processed" in the St. Louis office?
The date the application is "received" in the Washington DC office? or
The date the application is "processed" in the Washington DC office?

The stamped visa on my passport expired on Dec 25th 2001, but I have a renewed I-94 that has an expiration date of June 30 2004. I sent the renewal application to St. Louis last Friday (Dec 20th 2002), will I violate the dateline if it is received in the St. Louis office today (Dec 23rd) but not being processed until after the holiday?
 
FedEx Airbill without an envelope

Akela,

What you have done is technically OK.

Scenario 1: If the DOS rep is smart enough he/she can pick a FedEx envelope (which are freely available) and put the airbillin the pouch with your passport in it. If the DOS rep does this you should not have a problem.

Scenario 2; DOS rep puts the airbill ticket on a generic envelope and gives it to FedEx courier.

If one of the above scenario happens, then you will receive your passport delivered by FedEx.

If the DOS reps doesn't do one of the above scenarios, he/she will send by regualr mail. There is some level of risk as your package cannot be tracked once it is in USPS mailing system.

In future, please try to enclose the return airbill in the FedEx envelope (available at no extra cost) only as it is much safer and decreases the unwarranted anxiety.

Thanks.
 
Revalidation when out of status about an year ago

Hi There,

I have been on H1 in-status from Feb 2000 to Feb 2001 AND out of status from March 2001 to January 2002. I have applied for a H1 transfer to company B and was lucky enough to get a transfer along with the I-94 portion attached to the H1 (without paystubs as I was out of status). I have now again transferred to another company C (premium processing and with vlaid paystubs). I am now working for working for Company C. I have been continuosly been in status from January 2002.

I have taken a risk during H1 transfer, since my H1 Visa in the passport expires on 1st April 2003, I want to get my H1 revalidated with the new H1 after February 2003. My new H1 has an I-94 attached indicating that it is a transferred H1.

Question: Is it advisable to get my Visa revalidated (passport has H1 visa) in US or is it safer to go to India for stamping. I am terribly confused since I've heard revalidation is done for cases that have never been out of status. If I send it for revalidation to St.Louis and it gets rejected, what are the chances at Chennai.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks
:confused: hyd2002
 
Just a thought

If your employer 'A' did not cancel your H1 then you might still be in status. INS will not know that you were out of status from March 2001 to Jan 2002. Now that you have valid H1 visa from employer 'B' and 'C', you should get revalidation per your latest H1B approval.

You have the benefit of doubt. Since your visa stamp is till March 2003, I personally think it will safer for you to get visa from US.

If someone has a different experience or a different point of view, please post it on this thread.

Thanks & Good Luck.
 
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Re: Just a thought

Thanks for the assurance, but like the check for phtotographs older than 6 months, will there be a check against SSN to see the taxes paid for those 10 months. I am worried because the site says Visas can be revalidated only if "you have NEVER been out of status". I have hopes but am worried about the worst case if the Visa is rejected by Department of State, will be be stamped later in Chennai ???

I was lucky to get a transfer without paystubs but will I be lucky now is the big question and will the fact that my latest H1 is from a non-profit organisation make any difference.

Thanks,
hyd2002
 
RE- Just a thought

Chances of getting rejected in Chennai consulate is much higher than in Department. If I were you, I will take chance here.
 
No live connection between departments

There is not much interaction between IRS (Taxes), INS (Immigration) and DOS (issuance of visa and other duties). Any check can be done in US at any time. But DOS does not usually do it. Department of HomeLand security(DOHS) will have all these departmant under it. Though DOHS has formed formally, it has not reached a stage working efficiently.

As per photographs are concerned, it is done by technology and usuage of a machine/process owned by DOS.

The chances of getting DOS visa is much more than in Chennai. Don't worry too much of the consequences. Just give it a first shot at DOS.

Good Luck.

Thanks.
 
RE: No live connection between departments

Thanks once again for the assurance, I might give it a go at St. Louis, I plan to send the passport out in Feb, will post the result around April/May 2003.

Thanks once again,
hyd2002
 
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hi guys,

atlast i received our passports with visas stamped.

Fyi : recd at st louis : oct 29 th
mailed from dc : dec 20 th

both by fedex.

i had sent for both h1 n h4 stamping and i sent one postal order for all the fees for both applicants.

i thank the forum for the info provided and good luck for those waiting !

vkjanam
 
Revalidation(H1 & H4)

Please let me know if any one got passports back.
Passports Sent : 11-05-2002
Passport Reached : 11-06-2002

Still waiting .
Thx!
Joe:eek:
 
Revalidation(H1 & H4)

Please let me know if any one got passports back.
Passports Sent : 11-05-2002
Passport Reached : 11-06-2002

Still waiting .
Thx!
Joe:eek:
 
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