Hi all,
My wife was with me on H4 for 1yr. H4 visa expired Jan 2004. Approval date on I797 is May 2004. She then got a job here and got a H1 approval notice till Aug 2006.
Went to India for visit and US Mumbai consulate - for visa stamping of H1. Was denied stamping!!
Visa officer says - he is kept the stamping pending. Wants to see a whole truckload of docs from employer to ensure that it is a stable employer and has enough money to pay her.
Here is how the interview went
I had to fill in a form where it asked me number of employees in my present employer's company. The petition said 18 so I wrote 18. I think that was the root cause of the problem. Should I have mentioned a larger figure like 100 or so ? but i thoughht the petition says 100 so what if they crosscheck..? so I wrote 18.
Here is what the interview went like -
Q. How long have you been in the US ?
A- 3 years
Q. How long have you been with company?
A. 5 months. ( Do I say joining date as May 2003 onwards or Aug 2003 as stated on I-797 ?)
QWhere is company based ?
A - In NJ with main office in MA.
Q. what is your skill set ?
A - Microsoft technologies ASP, Asp.net..blah blah blah
Q. How much is your pay ?
A - 60 K per year.
Q. How much do other 18 employees make ?
A - Not sure could be in the range of 55K to 100K depending on experience and location. A place like California the pay could be more. ( wrong thing to say..but..was too late)
Q. Do they have people working in CA ?
A - Mostly employees are working in the east coast, depends on where client is and demands employees work on site.
Q. How often do you have to go to NJ ?
A - (I could not answer this question well) I said depends as needed. Usually have to work onsite wherever the client is.
Q. Do you get paid hourly that is as much as you work or do you get paid bi-weekly - fixed 60K per year no matter how much you work ?
A - I get paid fixed 60K per year. I get paid bi-weekly.
She said finally, your english is excellent but I want to make sure the company is not like a shop. I am not satisfied with what you have told me about the company. I want to make sure that they do not pay anyone less like 40K
I had submitted my all my payslips as well. but that wasn't sufficient i think..I doubt if she even looked at the payslips.
Handed a doc stating 221g -
This is what it says under section 221 (g)
Please supply information about your prospective employer in the U.S including W2 forms of ALL (18) employees
The last three years tax returns
Major project contracts
Bank statements
Quaterly employee tax filings if the company is less than 3 years old (I suggesst send this even if your company is more than 3 years old)
Other - List of ALL H1 employees, their nationality, their date of entry and exit from the US.
Photos of company inside and out.
Wife is now stuck in India and needs to get back here and join me! and company is helping come up with the docs - but it is difficult to come up with all those docs.
She still has her H4 approval - can she get the H4 visa stamp now instead of the H1?
Please help.
My wife was with me on H4 for 1yr. H4 visa expired Jan 2004. Approval date on I797 is May 2004. She then got a job here and got a H1 approval notice till Aug 2006.
Went to India for visit and US Mumbai consulate - for visa stamping of H1. Was denied stamping!!
Visa officer says - he is kept the stamping pending. Wants to see a whole truckload of docs from employer to ensure that it is a stable employer and has enough money to pay her.
Here is how the interview went
I had to fill in a form where it asked me number of employees in my present employer's company. The petition said 18 so I wrote 18. I think that was the root cause of the problem. Should I have mentioned a larger figure like 100 or so ? but i thoughht the petition says 100 so what if they crosscheck..? so I wrote 18.
Here is what the interview went like -
Q. How long have you been in the US ?
A- 3 years
Q. How long have you been with company?
A. 5 months. ( Do I say joining date as May 2003 onwards or Aug 2003 as stated on I-797 ?)
QWhere is company based ?
A - In NJ with main office in MA.
Q. what is your skill set ?
A - Microsoft technologies ASP, Asp.net..blah blah blah
Q. How much is your pay ?
A - 60 K per year.
Q. How much do other 18 employees make ?
A - Not sure could be in the range of 55K to 100K depending on experience and location. A place like California the pay could be more. ( wrong thing to say..but..was too late)
Q. Do they have people working in CA ?
A - Mostly employees are working in the east coast, depends on where client is and demands employees work on site.
Q. How often do you have to go to NJ ?
A - (I could not answer this question well) I said depends as needed. Usually have to work onsite wherever the client is.
Q. Do you get paid hourly that is as much as you work or do you get paid bi-weekly - fixed 60K per year no matter how much you work ?
A - I get paid fixed 60K per year. I get paid bi-weekly.
She said finally, your english is excellent but I want to make sure the company is not like a shop. I am not satisfied with what you have told me about the company. I want to make sure that they do not pay anyone less like 40K
I had submitted my all my payslips as well. but that wasn't sufficient i think..I doubt if she even looked at the payslips.
Handed a doc stating 221g -
This is what it says under section 221 (g)
Please supply information about your prospective employer in the U.S including W2 forms of ALL (18) employees
The last three years tax returns
Major project contracts
Bank statements
Quaterly employee tax filings if the company is less than 3 years old (I suggesst send this even if your company is more than 3 years old)
Other - List of ALL H1 employees, their nationality, their date of entry and exit from the US.
Photos of company inside and out.
Wife is now stuck in India and needs to get back here and join me! and company is helping come up with the docs - but it is difficult to come up with all those docs.
She still has her H4 approval - can she get the H4 visa stamp now instead of the H1?
Please help.
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