Hi All,
I would like to share my recent H1b visa revalidation in Kolkata consulate.
I am belonging to southern region and suppose to attend interview in chennai consulate, due to unavailability of dates i made an appointment in kolkate. This is for my remaining dates in h1b includes 7th year extension until Jan 2008. I had an appointment on June 15th.
flied to kolkata on june 14th. stayed in Royal Garden in park street, less decent hotel ( i wont recommend it). the cab driver told me that its a decent hotel. Rs. 1250/- for one night. checked out next day and kept the luggage in the hotel itself for free of charge. consulate is 10 minutes from the hotel, Rs. 40/- for the taxi from hotel to consulate.
Appointment was 10.45am. went inside the consulate at 10.30am. they took everything except your folder. got into the line, at the counter they collected the following documents
1. Passport
2. DD for Rs. 2300/-
3. DS 156, DS 157
4. I-797, I-129 and employer letter
5. appointment letter
After 30 minutes of waiting, my name is called from counter no.2 happend to be a american visa officer. he did not even asked single question, took my index finger printers, returned back my I-797, I-129 and employer letter and told me that i will receive my passport in 2 days. thats it. thank god, i got my visa without any problem. everything lost less than a minute.
I was scared to go to other than chennai consulate because i lost my master degree certificate and got duplicate one from the university. so i was tensed, what if they say i've to go to chennai to verify my degree certificate. thank got they didnot even ask any other documents other than the list i provided above. the other documents i carried with me is
1. all degree certificates and marksheets
2. MCSD certificates
3. W2s for all the years
4. All paystubs for 2006
5. previous employer's offer and experience letters
6. current employer's offer letter
7. last three months bank statement and utility bills for proof of address
while i was waiting to call my name i noticed few things,
everybody is rude in the consulate from the outside security to inside vo. if you donot have any proper documents they simply reject the visa, i seen lots of visitor and students visas got rejected that day. didnot see any fresh h1b stamping. all the h1b revalidation is approved without any questions. in the same counter i attended the interview there was a big argument between the vo and student visa candidate, while that guy aruging, the vo called my name, but still that guy didnot go away and kept arguing, so the vo called the security and handed him to the security. because of that i got really tensed because the vo is really frustrated that movement. but thanksfully nothing happend. If you have all the required documents its a really easy to get a stamping in kolkata consulate.
if some one go to kolkata from other places i donot recoment Royal garden in park street. try some other hotels. russell street and shakespeare sarani streets are just walkable distance to the consulate.
SK
I would like to share my recent H1b visa revalidation in Kolkata consulate.
I am belonging to southern region and suppose to attend interview in chennai consulate, due to unavailability of dates i made an appointment in kolkate. This is for my remaining dates in h1b includes 7th year extension until Jan 2008. I had an appointment on June 15th.
flied to kolkata on june 14th. stayed in Royal Garden in park street, less decent hotel ( i wont recommend it). the cab driver told me that its a decent hotel. Rs. 1250/- for one night. checked out next day and kept the luggage in the hotel itself for free of charge. consulate is 10 minutes from the hotel, Rs. 40/- for the taxi from hotel to consulate.
Appointment was 10.45am. went inside the consulate at 10.30am. they took everything except your folder. got into the line, at the counter they collected the following documents
1. Passport
2. DD for Rs. 2300/-
3. DS 156, DS 157
4. I-797, I-129 and employer letter
5. appointment letter
After 30 minutes of waiting, my name is called from counter no.2 happend to be a american visa officer. he did not even asked single question, took my index finger printers, returned back my I-797, I-129 and employer letter and told me that i will receive my passport in 2 days. thats it. thank god, i got my visa without any problem. everything lost less than a minute.
I was scared to go to other than chennai consulate because i lost my master degree certificate and got duplicate one from the university. so i was tensed, what if they say i've to go to chennai to verify my degree certificate. thank got they didnot even ask any other documents other than the list i provided above. the other documents i carried with me is
1. all degree certificates and marksheets
2. MCSD certificates
3. W2s for all the years
4. All paystubs for 2006
5. previous employer's offer and experience letters
6. current employer's offer letter
7. last three months bank statement and utility bills for proof of address
while i was waiting to call my name i noticed few things,
everybody is rude in the consulate from the outside security to inside vo. if you donot have any proper documents they simply reject the visa, i seen lots of visitor and students visas got rejected that day. didnot see any fresh h1b stamping. all the h1b revalidation is approved without any questions. in the same counter i attended the interview there was a big argument between the vo and student visa candidate, while that guy aruging, the vo called my name, but still that guy didnot go away and kept arguing, so the vo called the security and handed him to the security. because of that i got really tensed because the vo is really frustrated that movement. but thanksfully nothing happend. If you have all the required documents its a really easy to get a stamping in kolkata consulate.
if some one go to kolkata from other places i donot recoment Royal garden in park street. try some other hotels. russell street and shakespeare sarani streets are just walkable distance to the consulate.
SK