Dear Friends here is my story.
Background:
Me - Came to US in 1997 to UNCC, completed my masters in 1999. Opt from Jan 2000 to Jan 2001.
Ist H1B from Jan 2001 to Jan 2004. Revalidated this via drop box from tts visa services at Hyderabad to Chennai in March 2001.
2nd H1B from Jan 2004 to Jan 2007. Successfull Revalidation at Toronto on June 8th.
My wife: Cam to US in 2000 to a school in IL. Completed her MS by end of 2002.
OPT from June 2003 till Mar 15 2004. H4 from till OCT 2004. First H1B from Oct 1 2004 to Nov 15 2004. Second H1B from Nov 15
2004 - current.
Timewise:
April 17th: - made online appointment on nvars.com for June 8th at Toronto for me and my wife.
May 19th: Went to Canadian Consulate to obtain single entry visa for me, my wife and my inlaws (they are here to see us and help us
for my newborn daughter).
May 20th: Picked up all the four canadian stamped passports from Canadian Consulate. My daughter is US citizen with US Passport:
so she does not need Canadian Visa.
June 8th: 5 of us flew from IAD to Buffalo. We bought this ticket on FLYI.com for $70.00 each of us two way. Picked the rental car at
Buffalo airport and drove to Canadian border past Niagara.
Conversation with Canadian Border official.
CBO: Where you going?
Me: Toronto
CBO: Why?
Me: Visa Revalidation.
CBO: For whom?
Me: Me and my wife.
CBO: How about others?
Me: There are coming with us to visit Toronto
CBO: Do you all have Visa?
Me: Yes.. and showed the Visa...
CBO: Pull into the Customs Office further down from the border post.
Went into the Customs office, showed them all the 5 passport, Officer, asked the purpose of visit, asked what we are taking to
Canada, amount of US currency. He then struck the issued Visa on all 4 passports and stamped our passports for entry till first of
Decemebr.
From there we drove to toronto and checked in the Marriott Hotel on 90 bloor street. We reserved this hotel in Priceline and got it for
$70 per night - two rooms/ two nights. I guess its a very good deal.
June 9th - Appointment at 9:30 AM.
Went to Scotia Bank at 8:00 AM at 44 KingStreet, gave 2 x 100 USD to pick two vouchers for me and my wife.
8:15 AM- Reached US Consulate after a brief walk from Scotia Bankt to US COnsulate. Stood in the line in front of the building. Then
a guard came and asked me if we have appointment and when we showed the appointment letter, advised us to the back side of the
building.
8:20 AM. Already 15 members standing at the rear entrance of the building. Stood and Q. Guard checked for appointment letter and
let us inside the building around 8:40. Went through the metal detector. and stood in the Q in the Corridor. Entered the main building
around 9:30. Around this time there another lady walking aside the Q and making sure that they have all the documents... she
checked ours and asked us to remain in the line.
9:30 AM: when it was our turn went to counter (i remember its 2). The lady looked at our (both) photos and rejected and said that the
photos need to have white back ground ( I thought the pics I took had white background). She also wanted me to add my highschool
information in the DS 157.
Any ways, we used the photo machine US consulate to get the pics and stood back in the line AGAIN. (Carry CDN 5 with you just in
case if the Lady in the counter rejects your photos. You get 4 photos from this machine which are OK and serves the purpose. I Had
10 CDN and asked around those waiting if they can split... there was one person who had two 5 CDNs and exchanged it for my 10
CDN...). I used a seperate sheet for adding the information in DS 157
10:00 AM. Another counter... another lady...
Lady: Show me your appointment letter....
We: Showed her the letter
Lady: I 797, DS 156, DS 157
We: Showed them.
Lady: Status in Canada, told her that we are here on Visitors visa.. she ran through passport book and could not locate the Canadian
visa,,, I took the passport and showed her...
Lady: Your name does not match passport and I 797.
We: Yeah I know...
Background: My name per passport
Surname : SN1 SN2
GivenName: GN1 GN2 GN3
NOTE THE SPACES....
Per my US Docs:
LastName GN2GN3, FirstName: SN1SN2, MiddleName: GN1
I know its all jumbled... but what can I do ... I wrote this way back in 1997 in GRE forms and school forms and did not get opportunity
to change it back....
Lady: You got to change your passport....
Me: Yeah once I get back to DC I will
Me: Will this be a problem now?
Lady: Donno know, can't say, can't guarantee... she took both our docs and asked us to stand in Q...
waited for 1 and half hour...
Our name was called at around 12:00 by Visa office in counter 7 (as I remember).... as Indian Passport GN1GN2... As the Visa
Officer was struggling with my name, I knew it was me...
Walked to the Counter...
Me: Good Morning
VO: Show me your Employment letters - showed them.
VO: What do you do for your company: explained to her my duties...VO Confirmed my job title and entered into the system.
VO: What do you do for your company: QUestion at my wife.... she explained her job description. VO Confirmed her job title and
entered into the system.
VO: Show me your paystubs. - showed them... my wife had a break in paystubs... she did not get one because she was on maternity
leave... took a letter from the employer explaining this.. showed it to the VO... asking her if she cares for that...
VO: Whats that? I explained that letter...
VO: Congrats so you had a baby recently...
We: Thanks... yes couple of months back...
VO: You dont look like you had a baby....
My Wife: we are trying...
VO: SMiled...
VO: When did you come to US? Question posed at me... explained her all the Visa Status
VO: When did you come to US? Question posed at my wife... she explained all the Visa status held all the time...
VO:Whats your course of Study at your school? I told its Applied Physics I have a bunch of courses in CS and I volunteered to show
my transcripts...
VO: thats ok.. I dont need to look at it...
At this point of time I noticed that she already had ONE blue slip beside her.. looking at One blue slip, my heart sank and I thought I
am in soup because there are not two slips but one...
She gave me the blue slip and asked me to pay the fee... when I looked closedly on the slip, its mentioned at 50 x 2... then I asked
VO if its for both of us.. she said if we want, she can give two... I said I am ok with one... and asked her if we are through and
everything is fine and if we both were issued Visa... VO said yes...
I went upstairs and wanted to pay with cash, the lady at the counter said she wanted exact change.. so I have credit card and paid
with that...
Overall... The VO is very nice and warm... interview lasted for 5mins... There was no mention of my name mismatch....
Came down to the main room showed the VO the receipt of payment of USD 100... she gave me receipts to pick the passports next
day between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM.
The entire restlessness and tension for two and half months was solved in 5 mins....
By the time we came out, it was 12:30 PM and we realised that we were starving since the morning....
Nextday:
2:15 PM - Went to consulates rear entrance..
2:45 PM - Counter opened...
2:50 PM - my turn to pick the passport and picked them...
The visa on the passport was just the way it was on Passport but not as on I797.... What a relief....
Next day at the border post.
Only one person at the border post...
US Custom official: Where you coming from
me: Toronto
USCO: Why - explained her
USCO: Any fruits or vegetables in your car? Any tobacco or alcohol or anything from customs stores... we said know...
USCO: Looked at our 5 passports and let us go to US... During this 5 min stop, we did not even get out of the car....
Though its my second revalidation I was really really worried about my Name mix up, since first was prior in March 2001, I thought,
since the rules changed a lot after Sept 2001, I thought I will run into issues with my name mix up...
Docs We carried:
Visa Appointment letter, I797,DS156,DS157 (just for me),Paystubs, tax returns (3years),BankStmts,UtilityBills,US/Indian Degree
Certs, Transcripts.Vouchers for 100 at Scotia bank.
Please let me know if you guys have any questions.... I will glad to share...
I would like to thank Rajiv Khanna and this forum Organization members and lot for hosting this forum. This has been of great and immense
help to us.... If not for this... I dont know how else I would have prepared.....
- Kiran