H1 B Stamping from Canada

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Farooq_Qureshi

New Member
Hi - Here is my background.
I am from Pakistan & came to US on F1 in 2001 and graduated in 2004. After that I started working for a company on OPT & in Jan 2006 I got my H1 approved. I am still working with the same company & in July I am planning to go to Pakistan for a week. Many of my Indian colleges are going to Canada for stamping. I really need some advise here:

- Can I go to Canada for H1 stamping? Can we (Pakistanis) get the H1 stamped from Canada or do we "have" to go back to Pakistan?

- If Canada is an option, then whats the probability that even after all the right documents, US embassay in Canada will refuse & ask me to get it done from Pakistan? Becase my company will not allow me to take more than 2 weeks of vocation & I ve heard that stamping in Pakistan will atleast take 4-6 months.

_ If not, then is there any other option for me?

I would really really appreciate if someone can help me with this.

Thanks,
Farooq
 
Canada Stamping

Yes, for sure you can get it stamped from Canada. It takes almost 20 days to get it stamped from Islamabad. I know people who only had 2 weeks off but spend one week in Canada for this purpose.
 
Canada Stamping

Thanks for the reply.

Yes. I am planning to go to Canada. My only concern is that I have heard so many successful stamping stories but never heard anything from a Pakistani guy.

I feel that carrying a Pakistani passport is a lot different. If I will be rejected in Canada then obviously my next option will be Isalambad.

But I have also heard that stamping in Islamabad always required a security check, that can last from 20 days to 120 days.

Any advice, comments, or suggestion will be highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Farooq
 
H1B Stamp Delayed from US Embassy Islamabad

My Name is Syed Kamran Ahmed. I came to Karachi on August 08, 2004 for my H1-B VISA stamp and got approved on Sep 29, 2004. But they sent my case for security clearence process. Till date (Mar 12, 2006) and I am waiting for my clearence. I heard that so many ppl are getting stamps in days or in some weeks from Canada. Therefore, in my opinion if anybody want to get his/her stamp soon than goto Canada instead of Islamabad, Pakistan.
 
Farooq, If you decide to go to Canada, then please let us know your experience. There are my many Pakistanis in this boat: need visa stamps but are afraid to got to Canada or Pakistan becuase of long delays.

Also, any ideas on getting visa stamps for spouses (wife) in Pakistan or Canada..

Thanks.
 
Farooq -
It might be too late and prob you went to Canada or Pakistan for the H1 stamp.
Here is my situation - I came to US on F1 in 00 for my MS graduated in 02, started working on H1 in 2003 after OPT.
My situation was different as I got my Canadian residency and became a landed immigrant ironically on 14th Aug 2004. It took me 10 working days to get my H1 stamped i.e after the security clearance. I am planning to go for another restamp by the end of this year Dec 2006. I know a number of my friends from Pakistan who went to canada and got their H1 stamped (approx 2-3 weeks) with and w/o canadian residency. My recommendation - goto Canada DON't go to Pakistan for your stamping.
Again these are only recommendations and you are at the liberty to act what you think is best for yourself.
 
canadian vs. Pakistani consulate

undefined Now, we have a general feeling that things work out better through Canadian embassies but is that really the case overall?

In reality the only tangible difference in processing time is because of the fact that one can get an interview date in advance for a consulate in canada. For the consulate in Pakistan, an extra 7 - 10 days would be wasted before one appears for the interview.

However, once you have your interview done, the process should pretty much be the same. Actually, the embassies in Pakistan should be better equiped in understanding our cases while people in Canada would be more apprehensive about us. Anyway, both consulates send the cases back to Washington, DC and after that the delays are due to the DC department. Now, do you think they have different queues for Canadian and Pakistani consulates? hmmm... i wonder really... :confused:

Would be hard to do it like that... I would think the queues would be name based. All people with more common names might be in the longest queue and so on...

It could be that due to lots of Indians and other nationalities applying through canada, the overall numbers for Canadian consulate are better. But when it comes to specific cases, I don't know how much difference the embassy selection makes?

Here is an example of my friend who went to Canada for first H1-B visa stamp in 2003 and got it in 2 days. Next time he went in 2005 and got stuck in Canada for 3 months. That scares me as it would be highly costly to stay in Canada on your own with a family for 2 months or so... At least, in Pakistan those expenses are not there.

Just another point of view... from the other side :o
 
Kamran,
In my opinion you missed out on the worst case scenario. What if a Pakistani citizen goes to a US consulate interview in Canada and gets stuck in the name check game? His legal entry to Canada would be six months or less. What if the name check goes beyond the six months? Then the applicant becomes an illegal visitor to Canada in addition to waiting for his US visa. Just something to think about.

k_syed said:
Therefore, in my opinion if anybody want to get his/her stamp soon than goto Canada instead of Islamabad, Pakistan.
Click to expand...
 
I do not know how we can call Canadian embassy to be better for Pakistanis? I feel that we do not hear about many good examples of visa being issued on same days from Pakistan. From Canada, most of the stories are of Indians. For name checks it just takes time for Washington to do it. Also, another thing that can mess up the case is that once the clearance has come and before they have issued the visa stamp, if they see another name in the list that newly got added and has a match... then the whole process of clearance has to start over again. This is the same for Canadian embassy also.
Its a game of chance... you can get stuck anywhere, I think.
 
Like see the case of Brother Farooq.. i am sure he got his visa without any problem. he joined this forum, sent a few emails and then never returned here after he got his visa. Now, the people who get stuck always find time to come over internet and find these forums and share their experiences.
 
Aslamualaikum. I am on my 7th year H1-B extension and wanted to have my H1-B re-stamped (8th year) from Canada. I was wondering if anyone can share any experiences on how long it would take. Are we able to schedule an appointment online for the US consulate in Canada?

As background information, I am also a South African permanent resident. When renewing from South Africa, I was able to schedule an appointment online for the day after I got there, took my interview and got approval and had passport returned by courrier in 4 days.

I wanted to avoid the travel time and financial costs associated with going to South Africa. Reading about Pakistan, there seems to be quite a bit of uncertainty on the time frame expected. I was hoping someone might be able to post some more information on an interview in Canada (which consulate), if online appointments are possible, how passports are returned etc. I assume the application costs associated will be the same everywhere (about US $100 plus courrier fees). And most forms are avilable online.

Thanks for any suggestions and timelines.

Allah hafiz,

Jawad Khan
Dallas, Texas
 
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