Landing and h1b stamping in Canada

No

You can go to Canada, Mexico or any other consulate in the world. Basically it says that your presence is required as you need to give fingerprints in person.
So you can not renew by mail in St Louis or even in your home country by drop box. You need to be physically there in person for fingerprinting.
 
If visa stamp fails, you can not come back with valid I-94

You have to go abroad to take visa stamp. But if visa stamp fails in Canada or Mexico, you can not come back with valid I-94 even in 30 days time frame. This is new rule.
 
What about if we go before the expiration date on the visa? if they cant do, we can always come back and goto home country ?
 
Hi Guys,

I had a query with the new us visa renewal rule. Please help. My visa is expired but i do hv new I 94 valid till 2005. If I do not plan to leave the country can I stay in us without the new visa ? Because previously one had to have the new stamp on the passport in 1 year of old visa expiration. Is this law still there ? Please guide.

thanks.
 
Visa and status is different

busybe said:
Hi Guys,

I had a query with the new us visa renewal rule. Please help. My visa is expired but i do hv new I 94 valid till 2005. If I do not plan to leave the country can I stay in us without the new visa ? Because previously one had to have the new stamp on the passport in 1 year of old visa expiration. Is this law still there ? Please guide.

thanks.
Click to expand...

You mixed up visa with status. I-94 is your status. As long as you have valid I-94 and job, you have good status. Visa is only used when you travel outside US and want to cme back. If it's expired, you need to stamp it in order to come back. If you don't travel, forget about visa.
 
Hi

My wife is on H4 which will expire in May 2005. One employer has recently offered her a job and willing to apply for H4 to H1 transfer in premium processing.

In order to get H1 stamp on her passport, can she go to Canada for stamping? or Does she have to visit US consulate in India?

If for any reason her H1 stamping is rejected in Canada/India, can she still enter US on existing valid H4 visa? or, do they cancel old H4 visa?

I'm planning to have her H1 visa stamp done in her passport prior to the H4 expiry( May 2004) assuming that she can still enter US on H4 visa, even if they reject her new H1.

Thanks
ind
 
indgc123 said:
Hi

My wife is on H4 which will expire in May 2005. One employer has recently offered her a job and willing to apply for H4 to H1 transfer in premium processing.

In order to get H1 stamp on her passport, can she go to Canada for stamping? or Does she have to visit US consulate in India?

If for any reason her H1 stamping is rejected in Canada/India, can she still enter US on existing valid H4 visa? or, do they cancel old H4 visa?

I'm planning to have her H1 visa stamp done in her passport prior to the H4 expiry( May 2004) assuming that she can still enter US on H4 visa, even if they reject her new H1.

Thanks
ind
Click to expand...


Unfortunately, the new rule is that if you apply new visa in Canada, you are not eligible to visa auto-revalidation. That is, if your visa stamp fails, you can not use your H4 with valid I-94 to come back. Check http://travel.state.gov/exclusionvisa.html
 
I had one question about that though, my h1b visa is set to expire in Sept 2006 and my wife's in Mar 2007, The visa officer gave me a new I-94 with Sept 2007 stamped on it instead of Sept 2006. I believe he got confused with my wife's documents and thought we both had the same expiry dates? Her I-94 states Mar 2007 which matches the visa expiry date. In my case he got the month right but the year is wrong.

Are there any issues with this? Which takes precedence, the I-94 or the visa expiry date?

Thanks
 
H1 & H4 stamping experience in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

I would like to share my experience in stamping the visa with everyone and just want to tell you that it is of no problem(not like Canada). First of all i took the appointment for me and my wife at www.nvars.com for the consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Then i contacted Victor Garcia for Mexican permit and transportation(www.victorgarciainternational.com). He will tell you what to do in advance. Check http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/mx2/wwwhnivh.html for details about papers you need to take. On the morning, he picked us from the hotel at 7.30 am , and gave the bank drafts for the consulate with Mexican permits. We were inside the consulate by 8.25 am. At all points guards will check your appointment letter. First they will verify the DS 156 & 157 and then the photo session with finger print. After that they told us to wait. Our numebr was called after one hr and the officer was very friendly. He was asking questions like, where do you work, what kind of work you do, do u have any criminal records, where did u get your degree. Then he asked me for the tax returns. I gave him my file which includes tax returns, Pay stubs and all. Then he said your visa is approved and i paid the reciprocity fee. I got my passport back after 30 mins or so. Everything was done before 12.00.
 
F1 to H1-B and Candian PR

Hi Guys,

I have few questions, which I would like to ask. I would appreciate your help.

I was on F-1 visa, then I did my OPT and now I am on my H1-B visa. I also got my Canadian PR approved and I am planning to go to Canada in Feburary of 2005 for my Canadian PR process and also get my H1-B stamped. My F-1 visa is expired long time back. My questions are, can I go to Canada for my H1-B stamping. Is it true that new H1-B stamping should be done from the home country? Is there will be any issue if I go to Canada for my H1-B stamping. My company also applied for my US GC.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Shared Experience.

4 years ago, upon receiving my H1B working permit, I went to Canada (BC) to have my passport stamp. A friend of mine did this also but a year before me. So Im just following his process.

I went to the consulate for stamping, they checked my papers. And to my surprise, they did not gave me the working visa but instead revoked my tourist visa. I was humiliated at the consulate, they yell at my face and told me that I have fake papers and will not be able go back to the US. They said that I need to go back to my point of origin. They said, they will be able to investigate my paper further at the point of origin consulate.

I felt like a thief with grave offense. They stamped my passport for "Denied without prejudice". Im so hopeless at that time because I know i did not do anything wrong. I just rented a van to go to Canada. How am I going to return it?

What a terrible experience for me. As in shocking experience. I really hate that guy that did the interview. He could have done it more proffesionally.

I was able to go back to the US because of my working permit. Without a visa? yes. Remember that they revoked my tourist visa. But the people at the border told me that I dont need a visa to go back to the US because I never left US more than 30 days.

Thats it. I wont leave US again... Will just wait for my GC. But I guess that, that avenue is also not clear because of the back log we are experiencing.

My permit is due on 2006 so I might just apply for canadian citizenship or working visa there.

Very sad.... sorry for the very long RANT.
 
Your experience is in contradiction to the automatic reval rule that says that if u went to canada and applied for visa and were denied then you cannot come back to US. So this is surprising that u were able to get back.
 
true.

You are right, and Im not saying thats always the case. Also, we have to remember that this is 4 years ago, and maybe the ruling at that time is not that strict like what we have right now.

They asked me to get off the car and go to this interviewer at the border. They they asked me since when I was out of the US. I said 2 hours ago. And then they checked my papers. They even saw my new stamped that says "denied", but good thing I have my working permit with me.

My lawyer told me that ususally that the consular offices is not in-synch with the border people. And they said about this 30 day visa rule.

Luckily I was able to come back.

If I will do it again? A big NO NO.
 
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