H1 Visa stamping experience- Canada

floyd777 said:
Hi,

I have a visa appointment in toronto on august 31st 2006.

Is there anyone going there on that date as well?

Also, I have a new H1 and got 3 years extension on basis of I-140 approval from previous employer. I have AP/EAD/PERM/I-140 approved and I-1485 is pending.

If there is any problem with visa stamping can I come back on AP?

For either H1 or AP, do I need originals of I-485 receipt and I-140 approval notice or will photocopies be okay? They are with my lawyer so I am not sure If I will be able to get the originals right now.

I've done AC-21 from previous employer to new employer and am carring the AC-21 documents as well.
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After you get your visa stamped, where will you go, reentering the USA from the Canada or go to the other country?
 
immiq said:
So, you did not use the visa. Why do you want the visa stamped that you actually did not use it?
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I don't understand your question. I am planning to visit india and am doing the visa stamping from canada instead of india since it takes so long.

I had a previous H1 valid till july 2006 but then I switched to a new company and got a 3 year extesion.
 
Anyone Attending for H1B stamping in Toronto on tuesday

Attending for H1B stamping in Toronto on tuesday

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a tuesday appointment for my H1B stamping in Toronto US consulate. Normally people are receiving their passports by 3 PM next day. But Toronto consulate will be closed on wednesdays after 11AM. Is there any one who attended toronto consulate for visa stamping on Tuesdays? If so please let me know when would I receive my passport back, assuming every thing goes alright. Would that be on wednesyday or thursday?

Thanks in advance
 
L1 to H1 & H1B Stamping in Canada

I have been living in US for the last 6 years on a Non-Immigrant Visa (H1 B visa for last 3 years & L1 visa for 3 years prior to that). I initially entered US on a L1 Visa and subsequently changed my L1 visa to H1 B visa in due to a job change. Ever since i Changed my Visa from L1 to H1B i have not travelled outside the US due to Professional & Personal Commitments. I dont have a valid H1 B Visa in my passport but I have approved I-797(3 yrs based on pending I-140) issued by USCIS.

I am wondering whether i am eligible to get my H1-B Validation done
through any Embassy in Canada or Mexico. It would be really helpful if some body can answer my query.

Thanks
Ananda
 
floyd777 said:
I don't understand your question. I am planning to visit india and am doing the visa stamping from canada instead of india since it takes so long.

I had a previous H1 valid till july 2006 but then I switched to a new company and got a 3 year extesion.
Click to expand...
Ok, I see. You will go to the India but do not want to apply for the visa there. Do you know how long your new visa wil be valid? Is it multiple entries visa? Also, how you will answere the question on the visa application, Have you applied for the LC or permanent residence in the USA?
 
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H1 stamping in Canada

I and my spouse have H1 and H4 respectively and the passport visa stamp has just expired. We have our new H1 & H4 approved from my new present employer. We also have our APs approved. I wish to get my H1 visa stamped in Canada. Will I have problems at the Consulate in Canada? I don't want to back to my home country for visa stamp due to the long wait. Is it possible to get it stamped in Canada? What is the time from visa stamp expiration that one will have to go back to their home country only for getting the visa stamped?
Can someone please answer?
 
I have my US Visa stamp till Sep 30th 2006. I am going to canada on 10 th sep 2006 to get my passport stamped for my new I-797 which is valid till June 2008. If consulate denies or asks me to go to home contry to get the stamp will i be able to come back to USA as i already have a valid visa until 30th sep 2006.
 
BPK1973 said:
I have my US Visa stamp till Sep 30th 2006. I am going to canada on 10 th sep 2006 to get my passport stamped for my new I-797 which is valid till June 2008. If consulate denies or asks me to go to home contry to get the stamp will i be able to come back to USA as i already have a valid visa until 30th sep 2006.
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Nope according to ammended Rule, you can't come back once Officer denies VISA or asks you to go back to home country to get VISA stamped. I lost the link to the exact rule but immigration.com should have it somewhere.
 
Reached Canada - question - please answer!

Hi,

I just reached toronto and I have my us visa appointment tomorrow.

When I was leaving philadelphia international airport, the ticketing agent removed my expired I-94 card (white card not the one which comes with I-797) and stapled it to the boarding pass. Then at the gate where you enter the plane, the lady took the boarding pass but handed the I-94 card back to me.

I was suprised because I thought that everytime you leave the US, you must surrender your I-94 card. I asked her to check with her supervisor and she came back and said that for Canada there is no need to give them the I-94 card. I boarded the plane and again asked the flight attendant and she said recently rules have changed (something about canada being pre-cleared) and hence no I-94 is now collected from people travelling temporarily to Canada from the US.

Again I asked the custom and immigration officer at toronto and he said the same thing.

What am I missing here?

Also, if there is a problem with my visa revalidation at the us consulate, can I come back on my AP. What do I need along with an original AP document and copy of the I-485 receipt?

Any prompt answers will be very much appreciated

Floyd
 
Don't worry Floyd

Anyone travelling less than 3-4 weeks are not required to submit their I-94's. But do make sure to get A) A new one with H1 expiry date when you reenter.
B) Make photocopies of all the I-94's just incase if officer makes a mistake.
Please keep us posted , I have appointment on Tuesday. Good Luck to you and please reply to me with A) Who was your interviewer and B) Questions asked.
Best wishes,

floyd777 said:
Hi,

I just reached toronto and I have my us visa appointment tomorrow.

When I was leaving philadelphia international airport, the ticketing agent removed my expired I-94 card (white card not the one which comes with I-797) and stapled it to the boarding pass. Then at the gate where you enter the plane, the lady took the boarding pass but handed the I-94 card back to me.

I was suprised because I thought that everytime you leave the US, you must surrender your I-94 card. I asked her to check with her supervisor and she came back and said that for Canada there is no need to give them the I-94 card. I boarded the plane and again asked the flight attendant and she said recently rules have changed (something about canada being pre-cleared) and hence no I-94 is now collected from people travelling temporarily to Canada from the US.

Again I asked the custom and immigration officer at toronto and he said the same thing.

What am I missing here?

Also, if there is a problem with my visa revalidation at the us consulate, can I come back on my AP. What do I need along with an original AP document and copy of the I-485 receipt?

Any prompt answers will be very much appreciated

Floyd
Click to expand...
 
Pay stub issue

Hello
I have an appointment at Ottawa next month and have the necessary docs for the same...but I am concerned about the pay stubs...I work for a small company and they do not have the kind of pay stubs u usually get ...they do send us electronic copies of our pay stub...(details like how much the salary is, deductions/taxes, net income, etc)...I also have a copy of the W-4 they sent me for filing taxes....
But the pay stub still concerns me. since we get electronic copies of the pay stub which looks more like a MS Word Doc. Is this something which would be acceptable by the VO?
I could probably get a printout of my pay on the company letterhead and signed by our manager.
Awaiting responses.
anand
 
floyd777 said:
Hi,

I have a visa appointment in toronto on august 31st 2006.

Is there anyone going there on that date as well?

Also, I have a new H1 and got 3 years extension on basis of I-140 approval from previous employer. I have AP/EAD/PERM/I-140 approved and I-1485 is pending.

If there is any problem with visa stamping can I come back on AP?

For either H1 or AP, do I need originals of I-485 receipt and I-140 approval notice or will photocopies be okay? They are with my lawyer so I am not sure If I will be able to get the originals right now.

I've done AC-21 from previous employer to new employer and am carring the AC-21 documents as well.
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Hi floyd,

I have an appointment in last week of september, this is my first H1B visa appointment. I have no idea, what type of questions will be asked in first H1B interview. after taking your interview plz share ur experiences with me. i really need ur experience & evironment in toronto consulate these days,

also when u go to consulate did u fill DS 156 form there or you bring the printout of DS 156 form with you?

your help really apprechiating

regards
 
Questions on Visa revalidation based on I-140. Please help!!

My situation is :
1. I have visa stamp from my previous H1 ( not current one). Its valid till Nov'1 2006.My I-94 is also valid till Nov'1 2006.
2. My current H1 is valid till March 2007 ( my visa stamp is not based on this H1). My company will be filing for 3 year H1 extension thr' premium processing based on approved I-140. I am expecting my H1 extension to come by Sept end.
3. I will have only 1 month to do all the things necessary to get my H1 stamping. This is to make sure that in case visa gets rejected I can come back based on valid visa.

Questions :
1. What will be start date on my new H1 based on I-140. Will it be March 2007 or Oct 2006 ?
2. I read in the forum that visa stamping in Canada can not be done 10 days before start date of H1. Will I get extension till validity of my new H1 ( 6months on current H1 + 3 yrs. of extension ) ? or I will get extension only for 6 months based on my current H1 ( till March 2007) ?
3. My extension application is not yet filed. Will I be able to apply for Canadian visa ? Should I do it now ? Will I need any documents related to new extension for this visa ?

I will really appreciate answers to these question. Also any other tips and information.
 
If you are looking for a strong, genuine,reliable and a very professional company to join and to file your Green card through Perm, let me know. Generally labour and I140 gets cleared in couple of months. 180 new joiners already approved in a very short duration.

Mohit
mohitfl@hotmail.com
 
Quebec City

StillAlive said:
Hi Friends,

I have appointment sceduled in Quebec city on April 14th for H1/H4 stamping

But wesite here in http://www.amcits.com/quebec.asp says,
"Applications for H, L, O, P, Q, and R non-immigrant visas are accepted only from individuals resident in the Québec City consular district. "

I am really confued :confused:, should I still goto Quebec?

Anybody recently done stamping here.
I am Indian and studied is in India and working here for last 6 years.

Your experience and help will be appreciated.

Thanks
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Stillalive, so did you go to Quebec City? My appt is two days away and i did not see this from until now.
 
EB2_091505 said:
Anyone travelling less than 3-4 weeks are not required to submit their I-94's. But do make sure to get A) A new one with H1 expiry date when you reenter.
B) Make photocopies of all the I-94's just incase if officer makes a mistake.
Please keep us posted , I have appointment on Tuesday. Good Luck to you and please reply to me with A) Who was your interviewer and B) Questions asked.
Best wishes,
Click to expand...

Hello all,

My stamping in canada went well. It was very quick and I got the visa stamp but I had some problems at the immigration counter.

Please see my timeline and the questions I have below:

1. Based on my I-797, the US consulate at Toronto stamped my passport with an H1 visa stamp till 2009 (as was noted in the H1 I-797 approval notice). There were absolutely no problems during this process.

2. When I entered the Toronto US Immigration, the officer there looked at my documents and my passport and asked me how long I have been on H1 status in the US. I said, I have been on H1 status since July 4th 2001. He then told me that technically my 6 years of H1 should be expiring in 2007and he does not understand why I got a visa valid till May 2009.
I told him that this was based my pending green card application. He then said that he understands that but since I changed employers, I should not be getting a 3 year extension but only a 1 year extension. I told him that this was based on AC-21 (portability) and showed him the copy of the AC-21 law and a copy of the request from my lawyer to USCIS asking for 3 year extension based on my pending I-140. He then said that he does not know if this law applies if one changes employers and he asked me to go the secondary inspection area.

3. At the secondary inspection area, the second officer still said the same thing, that I should only get 1 year extensions and not 3 year extension on my I-94. Again I told him the same thing but he said he did not know of this law.
Then he asked me for my green card receipts because that was the basis of my H1 extension for 3 years. When I handed him the receipts for I-140, I-485, AP, EAD and the approval notices for I-140, he asked if I had an Advance Parole.
I said yes and handed him an original of the AP document. He then said that he will just parole me in and that he should have shown the AP document to the first officer. I told him that the whole reason I went to Canada was to avoid using AP since I wanted to stay on H1 status.

At that point he said you cannot pick and choose and that he will Parole me in. I again resisted saying that if I travel on AP, what happens to my H1? He said, you don't need to confuse AP and H1.
You can work on H1 and travel on AP. That is the easiest way for you. At that point, I did not want to argue further as I was getting worried so I just said ok and then he paroled me in.

My flight originally scheduled was cancelled and i missed the earlier flight that the agent put me on so I then I had to get out of immigration area, back to the airline counter, get a new ticket for newark (instead of originally philadelphia) this time and get back through immigration again (This time I told the officer that I was through immigration just a few minutes back and he just asked me for the AP and let me go).

During this conversation I repeated many times that I want to stay on H1 status (and potentiall bring my spouse on H4 status in the future if I get married outside the US) and each time both the first and second officers said that yes you can stay on H1 and that you do not need to do anything except to make sure your AP is valid when you are entering the US.

So here are my questions:

1. I did some research over the weekend and found that indeed it is true that I can stay on H1 status and continue to travel on my AP as long as my AP is valid. Can you please advise me if this is the case and that I do not need to do anything special here? I am also following up my attorney who had said a few months back that you can travel on AP and maintain H1 status without any problems. Please do let the lawyers know that this is in the context of AC-21 which means that I have ported my green card application over to a new employer and if that would make any difference here.

2. I am planning a trip abroad from october 1st week to november 1st week before my current AP expires and I wanted to know two things here:

a. The next time I come to the US, should I now go through AP or show my valid H1 visa? I've seen that a lot of people use a combination of H1 and AP to travel. Could you advise as to what I should do when entering the US next time?

b. Assuming I apply for an extension of Advance Parole before I leave, do I have to wait till it's approved before I can travel or can I travel while the application is pending (as long as my current AP is valid?)

3. Because of the issue with the weather while coming back, I left the US from Philadelphia but came back through Newark. Is that okay or is there something that I need to be aware of regarding this?

Please advise me on what I should be doing.

Thank You!!
 
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