H1-B revalidation visa rejected

A

Amit1793

Registered Users (C)
Just got the rejection notice for my My H1B visa today.

Apparently, the notice stated that my photograph didn't meet requirements, and I need to resubmit a more detailed comprehensive letter from my employer.

I will be leaving for India in Mid-november to get married. At that time my wife will also need her h-4 visa. What do you folks suggest. Should I resend my paperwork to DC, and pray that it comes back before mid-november. Or should I just apply with my wife?

If I apply with along with my wife, will we need two sets of documents Eg. I-797, letter from employer, et al.

Thanks everyone...Things would be so much more tougher without everyone help at this site.
 
amit1793,
dont worry amit. i also got the same query like u last year for photo & letter. please get a good white background photo from cvs pharmacy , u gets 16 photos for only 8 bucks, tell them passport photo to take. Also get a detailed letter from your employer with all the details of ur company , its business ets and main thing is what u do for the company, means what r ur skills and what ru working on in details, also ask them to put all the information in details. Also while sending letter to DC make sure ur company letter should be on company letter head with signed from any senior HR personal or president . also u need to fill form 156,157 again with all the details photo, signed employer letter, copies of the mon ey order u sent 1st time, send the receipt for it, it will show that u paid the amount, a return envelope for ur passport prepaid for courier and send all this info to DC. u should get ur passport within a week . last year when i faced this problem, i sent on mon, reached on tue, visa got stamped on wed & i received on thursday. also in the letter make sure that ur employer should write as company requires ur service till visa validity as your working for their client. let me know if u need any more info. hope this will clear all ur doubt. best luck
 
you can submit the photos and comprehensive new letter from your employer
from the date of submission it should take min 1 week and max 3weeks to get the visa stamped out
You need to make sure you send all complete documentation (the set which you normally send) to washington address along with 221g letter they would have sent

since you have over 2 months for the travel you should be ok and get it in advance
 
Can You guys explain why they rejected your photographs? and where did you took tose photos and please explain what are the main reasons for photo rejection. Because I took my pics from kinko's and are against light blue back ground.

Thanks much,
SaiRam Sree.
 
sairamsree,
make sure u have white backgroud because last year i got the same problem, my visa was rejected because i had cream color back ground, so i took new photos at cvs pharmacy , got 12 photos in white backgroud for 8 bucks.
 
spb999,

Thanks for your Prompt response and Help, I am not sure what I have to do now, I already sent my PP, SL Sent: Aug 21, SL Received: Aug 22. If you have any suggestions or is there any way that I can send my Photos(new) now??

Thanks much,
Sreeram.
 
donot send photos now because they will not be able to connect up as there is no specified process for that

wait for them to issue the letter keep all the paperwork (complete set of all documents including new 156 and 157 forms
including the new photos and submit after you get a letter from them stating 221g reasons tick marked.it takes 2/3 weeks from then on to issue visa

otherwise you will lose the time
 
Friends,

Here is my story.

I have my H1 stamped from my old employer (A) which was expried on 01-January-2003.

I left my old employer (A) in October 2000. And joined new employer (B) once I had my H1 approved in October 2000 which was valid upto August 2003.

Due to the INS stamp policy I had to wait untill November 2002 (60 days before my stamped visa expires) before I send my passport for stamping.

In the mean time a new Company(C)(one of the big five) acquire employer (B) (one of the big five).

I sent my passports, application forms, all docuemnts from employer (B), employer letter from (B) and (C), photographs etc. in November 2002 to get the visa stamp untill August 2003.

In July-2003 (after more than 8 months) I recd a letter 221(g) from INS that my visa stamp has been rejected due to the following reasons.
1). Employement verification letter from employer (C) is not signed and does not have enough information
2). My visa is about to expire in august-2003 so there is not much time remaining.

Also, to get the H1 extension employer (C) has already filed on 25th June 2003. But, as always I will have to wait for atleast one more month untill I get new I-797.

Now, my concerns are,

1). Do I have to restart/resubmit everything again with the new verification letter and new I-797?

2). In case if I plan follow up application for 221(g) and because the query was raised in July'03 and I will re-send all docs in Oct'03, is it ok to send this way or should I start allover again?

3). Do I need to send new money order or the payment that I already have made is still valid?

4). Someone said they re-sent followup application to DC office, don't we have to send to Saint Louis?

Thanks for current posting and Thanks in advance for future postings.

tp
 
Try to resend what they requested with any ref# .
I prefer to call the DC office and ask them before sending anything
 
Hi All,
This information is for all those whose H-1b revalidation visa has been rejected by the SL, and they have been asked to furnish more information to be sent back to DC.

My H-1 visa revalidation initally got rejected due to unacceptable photo's, and requirement of a more comprehensive letter. The photo's I had submitted were the old visa type where full face view wasn't shown.

I re-submitted all the documents, got new photo's, and a much more detailed comprehensive letter from my emplyer. My paperwork reached the INS on Sept 12, and believe it or not I got my passport stamped back today i.e. Sept 18th..which means the DC folks took less than 3 working days to process it...pretty phenomenal if you ask me.

So, if your visa gets rejected, and you're asked to furnish more paperwork, there is a good chance that provided you submit the right paperwork, they will process the visa pretty quick.

Thanks to everyone on this forum... especially spb999 ...for replying to my original posting and helping out.

Amit
 
4 question son photo, letter, and forms

thanks for valuable advices ...

I have a few more questions

1. list of all countries visited in the last 10 years - I have visited tons of them and I needed to list them in an additional sheet of paper, since there is no space in the form - is there any required format then (e.g. date and signature on this sheet), any specific instruction in DS-157 text box (I wrote "please see attached appendix") ?

2. photo in off-white color but not white - did you have any problems with that ?

3. comprehensive letter - do I need more detailed description for my job duties than "as software engineer he is engaged in various projects at our location in XXX,YY " and "company A, headquartered in XXX,YY is engaged in providing services A and services B". My salary, starting date, I-797 end date, reason for request for stamping are all listed. Do I need anything else ?

4. Can both pages of DS-156 be printed on separate sheets of paper or they have to be printed on one sheet, but on both sides (this is a requirement of my home country embassy, don't know what about DC) ?
 
1. I'm not sure if there is any particular order or format in which you have to list all the countries. I guess to be safe you could write the country name, and the year you visited that country - sorted in descending order. You may want to seek advise from other experts on this one.

2. I just went to Walgreens...they're all over the place. They did a pretty good job with the white background. If I remember correctly, they charged less than $8. Make sure they get a full face view, not the side view.

3. I would strongly advise you to get a much more comprehensive letter. They rejected my original letter that contained only a small para about my job description. You need much more detailed about your job description, and functions. Refer to spb999's post in this thread. He has given some good pointers

4. I would advise you not to take a chance, and print both pages of DS-156 on the same sheet...unless you have a big problem in doing so.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Amit
 
Hello Amit1793,

What does it mean by more detailed job desription. U mentioned that u intiallly wrote small paragraph for ur description. Isn't seven line job description is not enough?? Do i need to mention starting date of my job in letter?

I was checking US Department of State VISa site for H-1 revalidation and in section "VISA and Documention return", they have mentined that Original I-94, Employment letter, I-797 are returned after revalidation.

Do they return Employment letter which is stated to US Department of State/Visa??


Thanks
 
In my employer letter, my employer stated my basic job functions in 8 bullet points. They also mentioned the minimum qualifications for the job, my degree and experience, and certified that I have the necessary job qualifications.

SL did return my employer letter - although they crossed it out so it can't be used again. They also returned the Original I-94, I-797, pay stubs...pretty much everything was returned except the DS-156, and 157.

Hope this helps.

Amit
 
I-824 dublicate approval request

I had my H1-B renewed (7th year extension), approval was quick via premium processing, we have electronic approval email, however, the paperwork never arrived. approval was in early August so chances are the notice got lost.

Company and lawfirm say you have to file Form I-824 which may take up to 18 months (!!!)

Anyone have any experience with that?
 
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