Nogales H1B stamping done, July 17th

W

Winner1

Registered Users (C)
Hi Guys, just had my H1B stamping renewal from Nogales. Its payback time now as this has been a very useful website with nitty gritty's

Here is a detailed description of my trip.

- My appointment was on 17th july at 8:30 am. I took a flight @ 7:30am morning from Los Angeles to Tucson via southwest. Came out be around $150 return. Reached Tucson @ 9:00am.

- Rented a car from Dollar rent a car which is @ the airport terminal toward the right of Baggage claim for 2 days.

- Ate some food at Burger King before leaving for Nogales. Started driving to Nogales,AZ which is about 65 Miles from airport. Reached there at 12 noon. I had a booking at Best Western as mentioned on the same website for about $65 a night for 2 days as I wanted to keep some buffer and thank GOD I did. The owner is a very nice guy with pretty decent motel. Checked into room at 1 pm and had some rest till evening.

- Went out to meet some other folks just to get an idea of who else is going and met with the owner for minor direction details to the border and stuff.

Appointment Day:

- Got ready by monday morning to at 6:30am, had some coffee and lil breakfast at the motel which is pretty good and left for Border.

- About a mile I drove my car and found a Parking LOT across McDonalds, though McDOnalds had a parking too but Since I had a kid I parked at the other side which is lil' more closer to the border.

Parked my car, Took my Stroller which was a blessing and my family and crossed the Border. All you guys who are looking for agents for Permit and stuff, Dont waste ur money. U dont need no permit. No one is there and its perfectly legal. I had spent lot of sweat in thinking about the stupid permit and at the end didnt take it. I found some people had it but they paid $400 for nothing.

- Anyways after crossing border took a cab parked right as you cross the border. $7 Americano Consulato was the Buzz there so got a cab from there straight to Consulate and reached there at 7:45 am. Had about 30 people standing before me. Stood there. One thing guys make sure you fill all the forms irrespective of your status, or the website mentions or not. DS-156,157 and 158 even if you are h1b renewa/revalidation, f1 to H1 whatever. It sounds stupid but they still make us fill. I didnt fill and had to stand out to fill that.

- After filling the forms made my wife stand in the line and went to Banamex walking which is about 5 min walk. Reached the bank at 8:15am. There were about 10 people standing outside before me. I stood in line and waited for the bank to open. At 9am the bank open and all of us entered, took a token and sat on the chair, I had to get a receipt for me and my wife so I took copies of mine and hers passport, I also had original passport, but u dont need that, copies are fine too. they called the number and I paid $107 per head based on that day conversion rate and got the receipt.

- After getting the receipt @ 9:20 am, took a cab along with 4 other ppl as for about $7, just to avoid dust and walking. Reached back and put the receipt in my papers and went to the guy who was checking papers in the line. He checked our papers and told us to go to the gate and wait for our turn to be called inside the consulate. Immediately a guy came and told us to walk through the screening area. One more thing they dont allow any equipment so just in case if u have something there is guy who has a small place right ahead the consulate who takes ur bag.

- We took our stroller inside and went into the consulate. One lady checked our papers,

- all the forms, Petition (I797) and attached a number on the top and told us to wait for our finger printing .After 10 minutes our number came and me and my wife and kid went inside for the finger printing. took 5 mins and they told us to right next to other section for our visa interview. We waited for about 45 mins to an hours and our turn came. The lady asked for our forms, original Petition, I 129 and started putting some data in computer, She asked me how long I have been working for my co, and what position do I work for. She asked for my resume which I had current one with lot of technical stuff. But over all it was nothing, they just check the validity of what we are telling them. Be confident and dont sweat. Its verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry Easy.

- Gave us a receipt and told us to come at 3pm to pick our passport and told us to deposit the #50 reciprocatory fee at the counter on the left. We did that and came out at about 1pm. Took a cab from there to Burger King which is right next to Banamex, as I had a kid and didn't want to walk in the sun.

- reached there met some other folks there and chatted and ate some food to waste time. At 2:45 pm started walking back to the consulate as we had some folks with us so we preffered walking. Reached there at 3 had about 50 people before us and went inside the consulate 1 more time. One thing I would like to mention, u dont need to take ur wife again inside and they can wait outside as there is a shade for the people waiting outside. About 15 minutes we went into the window to collect passport and came out at 3:30pm. As far as I know everyone I saw got the visa.

- Took a cab again outside the consulate and went straight back to the immigration checkpoint.

- This is the most tedious task. There were about 100 people in line but they made a seperate line for people with H1b and F1 and stuff. they took us to a room above and made us stand there. About 50-100 people. Heard from someone that there system crashed and they were filing the I 94's manually. We reached there at 4:00 pm and got our I94's at 8:00pm adn we were the lucky ones as I came to know later that some folks got there I94's at 12am - 1am in the night. The sooner u go the better it is but DONT PUSH UR FELLOW HUMAN BEING AS THEY ARE THERE FOR THE SAME REASON. BETTER TO RESPECT EACH OTHER.

- No letter needed here as they need ur original petition and I 129's and give u a new I 94 with the visa expiry date.

One more suggestion dont have a same day flight back. some people had to cancel it. I took the same day earlier but few days before my appointment I postponed it to next day.

- After my Immigration went to the parking lot, Picked my car and went back to the motel. Met with the owner of the motel just to give my experience as he wanted to know what happened and went to my room and had a great sleep :)

- Next day, tuesday, woke up at 6:15 am and got ready, had some breakfast again. took my car and headed towards Tucson @ about 7:30am, to catch my flight at 9:55am to Los angeles. Also there is a checkpoint again where they stop you and ask you if you are an American Citizen. Kepp your passpport with Visa in ur Car to show them as you wont have to open ur trunk to show them like in my case.

- Finally Returned my car at the airport terminal and straight to southwest. Got my checkin done and back to LA by 1am.

Few points to mention.

- Dont sweat over Mexican Visa, Its not needed and no need to hire Agents.

- carry all documents, I was asked for my original petition (I 797) with the current co. as I had filed for my extension and took the latest one, and luckily i carried the original one.

- If family with kids take stroller.

- If small kids, keep them away from sugar, I mean coke and stuff. Some kids got real hyper and cranky there.

- Dont book same day flight.

- Book a flight to Tucson, instead of Phoenix if u r planning to fly which I think is better.

- Book 2 night stay as u will be at peace and wont be too much stress unless u have to appear before ur boss the next day.

- BE CONFIDENT AND BOLD. The country needs you and they cannot deny your visa.

- HAVE A SMILE ON UR FACE and enjoy the trip.


_ Dont ask me what documents I carried as there are enough threads on this forum. And also each situation is diffrent so carry documents to prove ur job and position.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks to all the guys before you shared there experience as I was looking for some fresh experiences but looks like people didnt care after they got there visa. Well I hope this would help some of you as this was July 17th 2006 appointment. God bless.


- Winner 1
 
Congrats Winner1

Was it a reavldation (H1 to H1) or 1st time stamping? Please share your case little bit more, i mean H-H1 or F1-H1.

Did you see other people got their H1-H1 revaldation done?

I am on my 10th year of H1 and was never out os status. it is okay to go for stamping?

Please help.
Thanks,
VivekS
 
i think winner1 has described the whole process. let me tell the questions they asked me, mine was a H1-B revalidation.

1) Have you changed your employer and for H1 revalidation?
Yes

2) Do you have your previous employer pay record?
Yes - showed my W2
Since i worked for my employer for only 10 months consular asked for explanation and explained the same.

3) Do you have a employment letter ?
yes - i showed my current employment letter.

Then i was asked to come by 3.00 pm to pick the passport and was asked to pay $50.

All of us who went on jul 17 th had tough time in IMMIGRATION to get I 94 as they had some system problems and they had to do manually.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Succesful visa revalidation at Nogales

Hi Winner,I was very nice to meet you all guys at Nogales. You have described very accurately all the information which, people really need to know.We flew from St.Louis to Tucson the day before. We got banamex receipts from Mark Lehmann (Mexico-assistance.com). Very nice guy. Sent me the receipts in 2 days. If you want to buy on the same day also, it is not a big hassle as done by Winner1. We booked hotel at Best Western, for 2 nights,Nogales,AZ. Rooms are ok. Paid $73.60/day +tax. You can book directly talking to the Best Western Nogales,$5 will be less per day. We rented car from budget and drove to Nogales.Around 60 miles(A-19 south). As you approach towards the boarder-Nogales, you see Km signs instead of miles.We slept in the hotel, the previous night and woke up early(5am). We had early breakfast in the Best Western.(6.15am) We had a chance to meet lots of people(Students and families including Winner1).I have seen few people with agents who will help you to take you to the consulate.We did not take any mexican visa or permit. I have been told if you are going to mexico within 20 miles you do not need any permit or visa.We drove to the international boarder(1km) and parked at Mcdonalds parking lot(Ed;s parking lot). $4/day.We walked 1 block across to cross the boarder. Basically you have to go through one way metallic gates towards Mexico. No police or boarder petrol checking. But if you are coming back to USA, you have to go through Customs and Boarder protestion people(CBP). We took a cab from there to American consulate(Consulado) $7. Tell them very clearly you want to pay only $7. Cab drivers are speaking broken english.Pretty rough driving. Reached consulate around 8.45am. Please fill 156,157,158 forms to everybody,whether H1 or H4. 2 people are checking all the forms, while you are waiting. We were inside by 8.15 am. The officer asked me basically 2 simple questions- Whether I have changed my employer since last H1b and annual salary.I took every document, I can. I took important documents inside and rest of the documents I kept outside the consulate with a guy, who kept my bag(Documents and cell phones) for$2.We were out by 9.15AM.Officer told me that our visa has been approved and askedus to pay reciprocity fee$50.00 each and collect the passports around 3PM. We spent time in Mcdonalds with lot of play area for kids.We collected our passports around 3.30 PM (you are not allowed to take any electronics-cell phones,make up agian) and went to Boarder around 4 PM. We waited in the office for almost 5 hrs to come out with our new I-94s. You have to pay $6 each for new I-94s and visa stamping. This the most hated part of whole visa revalidation issue.They have 5 windows. Only 1 officer(Window) was working for visa revalidation. Rest of the windows were for mainly Mexican tourists and permit holders. You have to be prepared for this long delay. Kids went bonkers, got cranky and crying most of the time.Most of the adults got themselves in to conversations and jokes to kill the time.Most people missed their evening flights.Luckily our flight was next day. We went to bed around 10 Pm and woke up early 5 am to catch our flight. We had a happy ending. As far as know nobody got rejected on July 17th. We shared good laughs and jokes with other students and families including Winner1. I was bit skeptical and weary about going to Nogales. I learned a lot in this forum and went to Nogales and came back succesfully. I thought I should share my experience like all of other guys, who took their time to share the information. Best of luck all for all of you guys.
PS: Hi Winner1 your baby boy is very cute. Say hello to your family from my family. :)
 
Congrats to all you guys,


Congrats to all you guys,


DID ANY OF YOU GUYS GET THE REVALDATION BASED ON PENDING GREEN CARD OR IN OTHER WORDS REVALIDATION FOR MORE THAN 6 YEARS?
OR

DID YOU GUYS MEET WITH SOMEONE OVER THRE WHO WAS TRYING GET VISA FOR (7TH, 8TH, 9TH......... )

I AM ON MY 10TH YEAR, IS IT SAFE FOR ME TO GO FOR STAMPING?

PLEASE DO REPLY.

THANKS,
VIVEKS
 
All, as a pay back to this forum, fairly easy as described by others. But this is other side of the story.

1. Please use mark lehman service for banamex receipt, so you wont run to the bank on the day of interview.

2. Consular officer was nice and polite, but she could not understand my case h1-b for 9-11 years which is based on pending GC pettion with current employer. She was confused with my old employer withdrawal of GC petition after I left the company. Similarly other consular officer. She is going to FAX all my docs to WASHINGTON for reply about my decision which can take from days to weeks.
 
terminal said:
All, as a pay back to this forum, fairly easy as described by others. But this is other side of the story.

1. Please use mark lehman service for banamex receipt, so you wont run to the bank on the day of interview.

2. Consular officer was nice and polite, but she could not understand my case h1-b for 9-11 years which is based on pending GC pettion with current employer. She was confused with my old employer withdrawal of GC petition after I left the company. Similarly other consular officer. She is going to FAX all my docs to WASHINGTON for reply about my decision which can take from days to weeks.
Click to expand...



Terminal,

Sorry to hear about your case, but I am sure you will get you clearance pretty soon.

So, you have a 3 years extension based on pending GC with old employer. Now you are employed with a NEW employer using the 3 years extension and at the same time your OLD employer terminated the GC application since you left the company.

Bottom line is that you have a valid 3 years extension based on pending green card but you really don’t have a green card pending anymore.

One more thing how did she (Visa Office) figure out that your GC is not pending?

Please confirm. I might be in your position because I am also thinking of job change.

Thanks,
VivekS
 
hey guys,

jus a quick question for h1-h1 revalidation that u had:

did all of u have masters from usa? if not whats ur educational qualification related to?

Thanks
 
terminal said:
In short your conclusions and answers to questions is "NO". Please read the post again.
Click to expand...

terminal,

I am sorry for misinterpretation.

So the Visa Officer was fine with 3 year extension, Right??? Or she wasn’t aware of 3 year extension rule.

I will be going to get 3 years (10-12) visa stamped based on pending green card.

Your reply would be appreciated greatly.

Thanks,
VivekS
 
Congrats!!!!

Hi Winner1,
Congrats and thank you for sharing your experience. I have only one question for you. Do I have to make any separate appointment for my wife or if I specify my wife in the family member page in the visa services page is that enough?

best regards
Rajkumar.
 
Winner1 ,

I have one more qyestion for you. why did you choose "Nogales" over "Tijuana"?? wast there any reason?

I am having hard time to decide which one to pick. I live in Los angeles california an dhave tow little girls.

All,

If someone can post the sample employer letter that would be great.

Please advise.
Thanks,
 
for Rajkumar

U dont need a seperate appointment. Adding family members , while booking the appointment is the correct way.

- winner1
 
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