H1 & H4 Visa stamping Experience in Kolkata & Delhi from Chennai jurisdiction

FYI - ONE MORE EXPERIENCE (Other forum)

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would like to share my visa experience on Dec 15th 2004 in New Delhi embassy.

Thanks to forum.

Myself and my wife went to New Delhi embassy on Dec 15th 2004. Appointment time is 8:30 AM.
We reached embassy by 8:15 Am and waited in the queue then security people checked the appointment letter and asked us to join in the queue outside embassy.

We waited in the line and went to counter. An Indian Officer took our applications with DD's. He verified and asked my wife to correct the surname in the application. He asked my I797 original petition and stapled in my passport along with DD Rs 2600. He kept 4600 DD inside and returned our passports and informed us to go inside embassy.

We went inside and TTS counter people collected DD 441 and issued us a reciept and we joined in Nonimmigrant visas Queue.

We were called by american lady(black women) then interview begins like this :

Nag & Mrs Nag : Hi, How are you doing?
Officer : Fine, and took our passports.

Officer : She asked my wife first to give finger prints. (First, left index finger and next right index finger) Later she said to me to do the same.

Nag & Mrs Nag : We both did.

Officer : Looking at me, which company are you working ?
Nag : XXXX company

Officer : How long you have been working with this company ?
Nag : I said since from April month.

Officer : How many months ?
Nag : 6 months

Officer : Tell me your Role ?
Nag : I said XXXX (she couldn't hear)

Officer : I couldn't hear you ?
Nag : Sorry, again i said about my duties in that i said ERP.

Officer : (with loud voice) what is ERP sir?
Nag : I answered XXX

Officer : what is your salary?
Nag : XXX

Officer : what is your job ?
Nag : Programmer/Analyst

Officer : what is your previous company?
Nag : XXXX

Officer : what was your job in that company?
Nag : XXXX

Now she interviewed my wife.

Officer : When did you meet your husband?
Mrs Nag : XXX

Officer : When did you both get married ?
Mrs Nag : XXX

Officer : Is it arranged marriage ?
Mrs Nag : Yes

Officer : Show me your wedding pics?
Mrs Nag : Hand over pics to her, she looked at all pics one by one very carefully and returned back.

Officer : What were you doing before marriage?
Mrs Nag : XXX

Officer : Where ?
Mrs Nag : XXX

Officer : She turned her face and asks me how many people attend to your wedding?
Nag : I said XXX people.

Officer scanned and folded something inside and gave us tokend and said cooly your visas has been approved.

Nag and Mrs Nag : Thank you madam!

We went to TTS counter again and they issued us a Cover and asked us to write our shipping address and informed us it will reach us with in a week.We gave those tokens to them and came out happily.

Before entering i arranged docs in 3 files.

File 1:

1. I797
2. DS 156 and DS157 forms with photos(50 X 50)
3. Passports
4 DD's 4600 each and 2600 each + DD 441
5. Employers letter to consulate
6. I129 and LCA

File 2 :
1. Original certificates and marksheets
2. Paystubs
3. W2 and 1040Z tax return forms
4. Experience letters
5. company inside outside pictures
6. Old I797
6. Client letter

File 3 :
1. Bank statements
2. Utility bills
3. Coworkers affidavit letters
4. SSN Card
5. Old offer letters
6. Old experience letters
7. Air tickets with Itenary.


Actually i was in very critical situation, my extension was denied and new h1b approval was issued without I94 so that i have to leave usa and get stamped in India only. So i took risk and it got paid with out any probs.

One more important thing is, i am from south india and our passports was issued from Hyderabad. But i took appointment in newdelhi because i got visa from newdelhi before and never got rejected in USA. I took urgency letter from client just for supporting document. In my I797 it was mentioned POE or consulate is Chennai.
They didn't send me back to chennai.

Finally, we have recieved our visas with in 2 days BUT they did mistake that they printed my last name as given name and given name as lastname. I have no time to correct it, when we came to usa at port of entry immigration officer got confused and asked why did they messed up like this and later she issued I94.

Please collect all supporting docs before interview. Be Polite and cool while interviewing.

Any questions please feel free to ask.

Good luck guys and happy new year.

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One mor Exp.She is from south india

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My wife had her intervew yesterday(June 2nd week) in Delhi and she got her visa. The visa officer asked her only a couple of questions, and didn't even go through most of the documents she carried. They just went over her application forms and my H1 approval notice.

Hope this helps.
 
H4 Documents need to be original?

We got married in May and i left to India in June itself.
My wife attended visa interview at kolkata consulate on Jun 29 2005. She was denied visa and asked to go to chennai
for the reason that she could not show the I-797 H1B approval notice. When she went to visa, I just gave photo copies of my originals to my wife
since i thought the customs officer might demand my approval notice at the time i enter into United States?
Does the H4 documents need to be original! Did any body face this problem. Please advise! Thanks
 
Experience in Kolkata...

Hi,

My wife's new H4 was approved in Kolkata without much hassle.

The appointment:
Few of my friends from Chennai had advised me to go earlier than the appointment time to get processed earlier -- no dice -- Kolkata seems to be very particular about appointment times (which is good), so go to the consulate about 15-30 minutes before appointment time. The queue to get inside is therefore very short.


The process: (somewhat blurred since I did not go in)

Asked to submit the TT services DD/cash, then wait in line for the next step where a lady (Indian) will make sure you have all the documents (she will ask and take the documents from you and arrange them in a folder). Documents for H4 include (but not limited to) DS156/7, I197, I129, DDs for 4400 & 2200, Passport (& xerox of first 2 and last 2 pages of passport), marriage certificate etc.
Then you wait in another queue for your visa interview.


The interview:

The interviewer was an old lady, she asked a few simple questions and that was it.

1. When did you get married
2. How do you know your spouse
3. Was it an arranged marriage
4. Did you meet him/her before marriage
5. How did you communicate with him
6. Do you plan to work in US (NO!!)
7. Where is your husband now (I was standing outside the embassy, the interviewer was pleasantly surprised when my wife said so)
8. Where does your husband work/live
9. Why did you come to Kolkata instead of Chennai (just said that we did not get an earlier appointment)

She saw the wedding photos and commented on few photos, including the fact that it looked very different from Bengali weddings. They do look at the photos so do remember to take a few (20-30).


The Return Of The Passport:

TT services uses Blue Dart to courier the passports, it takes about 3 days (interview on Wednesday, got the passport on Saturday) for the passport to reach southern India (for eastern states it will take about 2 days).



Other information
Documents carried

DS156/7
I797 (all)
II29 (all)
Employment verification letter
Offer letter
W2 + Federal tax returns from all years (they asked to see the returns for 2004)
6 latest pay stubs
Company annual report
utility bill
marriage certificate
DoB certificate
marriage photos
both passports (they did not see mine)
xerox of passport
degree certificates/service records/certificates (not used)

xerox of all of the above.



Stay:
I stayed at Hotel Pallavi international, it is a decent hotel (not 5 star), clean sheets, clean bathroom, tv, ac. A Rs 1500 double room comes with a free breakfast and a free meal (only one meal, you are on your own for the next). The hotel is very new (the façade is still under construction/renovation). The hotel is on the junction of Shakespeare Sarani Rd. and Hungerford Rd, and is about 5-10 minutes walk from the US consulate.

Getting there:

Prepaid taxi Rs 295

Getting out of there:
Regular taxi Rs 292 -- The Taxi driver in Kolkata are usually very honest ones, they do charge above the meter rate (since the meters have not been updated), they have a rate card which they refer to.
 
successful stamping at Kolkata

I will post a more detailed letter later, but I had an appointment for H-1B on July 5th. I got the stamp and received my passport by courier 5 days later.

I have gone to Chennai for all my previous stampings and I noticed that the interviewers are much slower at Kolkata and ask more pointed questions. Given the ease with which I got my visa, I would assume that people are not taking the due diligence of taking all required documents and presenting them properly.

Later

PS: Stayed at the Oberoi as per another member's advice and took a cab to embassy. It is about 5 minutes tops from the Oberoi to the Embassy.
 
Kolkata stamping on July 5th

I want to thank those on the board that shared their experiences. I had my appointment in Kolkata on July 5th at 11am. I am from the South and had to take the appointment because I had to take a business trip in June and Chennai was booked until September.

Visa type: H1
Situation: I found the job while on OPT so I am a returning H1 holder getting a stamp for the first time.
Job type: Not IT. R&D

Arrived previous night and stayed at the Oberoi Grand because of a recommendation I saw on the board. Excellent hotel and location. Worth every paise. Book online for better prices. If you get the discount rooms, breakfast and airport transfer will not be included. Use the Hotel’s airport transport service if you can. They have good cars with a/c. You will need a shower at the airport if you take one of those taxis.

The hotel is gorgeous and everybody is very helpful. They got cabs for me, arranged transportation to the airport (good airconditioned car), took my memory stick and printed out come documents and delivered them to my room and they even went out and got DDs for me.

The US Consulate is about 5-10mins by Taxi. Ho Chi Minh rd is actually not accessible. The taxi will drop you off at the entrance and you have to walk to the embassy.
The appointment was at 11am and I arrived at 11:05am (Got delayed by passport pics).

You have to wait at the entrance while they check your appointment document and then let you in.
You go to security next. On your appointment letter, there is a list of things you cannot bring in. Note that almost everything is banned. You can only bring in your folders with the required documents.

Next you go to the main building and enter a room where you hand over the Rs 441 DD to the TTS clerk. He will give you a receipt and tell you to sit down. People are called in row by row and there are about 8 rows of seats, each with about 5 chairs.

When your row is called, you walk in to the interview room and line up for document submission. My photos and my DD for 2200 was rejected. Please remember, Calcutta is very picky about pictures. I took mine in the US and they were rejected. I also had pictures taken near the Hotel and they too were rejected because the background was light but not White. The bank misspelled the payee name - they typed Counsulate instead of consulate. I was told to leave and come back within one hour. I came out and talked to the guard and he pointed me to a punter who was nearby. I went with him, got pictures taken (4 for 160 Rs) and got a DD for 2600 Rs (400 Rs surcharge). The guy basically took me to building right in front of the embassy and upstairs to his travel agency. I was suspicious at first but it turned out ok since both were accepted. It all took about 15 mins. There were many many people getting their pictures taken again because the embassy rejected theirs.

Returned back to the embassy and was allowed to go straight back to the interview room where I went to the window and turned over my photo and the new DD. The man added these to my file and put it in the pipeline.

The two interviewers were taking their time with everybody and really grilling people, especially the younger lady at window 2. I got the feeling that people did not get or supply the required information. The students were really getting roasted over hot coals. I saw a couple of rejects. I was finally called at 2:20, the lady at window 1 seemed ok with what I supplied. She asked me general questions about where I went to school and I lived in and whether I liked it there and etc. She then asked me what I did in my role. More casual chit-chat and she said that my visa had been issued and would be mailed to me. Not one other question.

I left, turned left out of the embassy, walked to the main road, waved down a cab and went back to the Hotel. I was well past the check out time and they did not complain. Picked up my bags, checked out, arranged transport to the airport, left my bags at the concierge, had lunch (200 Rs total) and when I was done, the car was waiting for me.

To summarize, get all required documents listed on your appointment letter. Put them all into one folder and that is all they will collect:
For me, it was:
Passport,
DS156 and 157
I-797A
DDs for 4400 and 2200
Photocopy of the first and last pages of your passport as mentioned in the letter.
Receipt for Rs 441 from TTServices (TTS will also take cash in a pinch so if you forgot get a DD for them, don't sweat it.

Keep everything else in other folders.
I was not asked for any other document

Stay at the Oberoi for the convenience, luxury and location.

Passport arrived 5 days later in Bangalore.
 
My wife got H4 visa (First Time H4) from New Delhi 4th week of September. she is from Chennai. The Visa officer didn’t ask anything about consulate change. Also she asked only where is your husband now and asked my wife to show marriage photos. That is it. No pay slip, no w2, and not even employer letter.I submitted my original I797.The passort and I797 came 5 days later.I had problem with 2001, 2002,2003 W2’s(Less than LCA).So I tried Delhi instead of Chennai and god grace it worked. Thanks every one. Good luck. :) :) :)
 
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