brightlight77
New Member
We successfully got our H1(for me) and H4(for my wife) stamping done at Nogales Mexico on June 26th 2006. We were converting from L to H visa and the H1 petition belongs to my new employer. Initially we were very skeptical since my petition paper read H1BChennai and we had I-94 for L visa only. But we had our L visa stamped till Oct 2006, if for any reason our H visa was to be rejected we could re-enter US and make a trip to India. As a backup we had booked an appointment in India also.
1. We booked our appointment through http://www.visa-usa.com.mx/default.aspx. You have to pay $10 using a major credit card for pin purchase. That pin number is valid for 3 months and provides you with 2 rescheduling options. If you would like to shuffle your appointments around you can purchase multiple pins also.
2. We did not take any Mexico visa/permit as many suggested that it is not required for Nogales. You can stay in Nogales for 72hours legally without a permit. Also, permit is not required if you are going to stay 20KM from the border (Please refer to Mexican embassy website for latest information as these things keep on changing).
3. We got the Banamex receipts two weeks prior to the appointment data through Mark Lehmann. We paid him $260, which included visa fees (105x2) and service charge. He ships the receipts through Fedex 2nd day delivery. Your passport number should be printed on the Banamex Receipt. Visit this website http://www.mexico-assistance.com/APrepaidVisaApplicationFeeInfo.html for complete information. There is a Banamex Bank that is very close to the consulate and it opens at 9a.m. But if you are like many of us, the walk to the Banamex is the last thing you want to do on the day of the appointment.
4. We decided to fly to Phoenix, AZ and then drive from there. Nogales, AZ is about 175miles from Phoenix airport. Nogales Mexico is other side of the border. Do not book the return tickets on the same day. Give atleast a day's lead time.
5. We booked a room at Best Western Siesta Motel in Nogales, AZ for $55+tax a night. This hotel is about a mile from the international border and most of the Indians who had come for stamping, stayed in that hotel. Other options: There is a Motel 6, 3 miles away from the border, which charges $40/day. One other friend we met (a single guy) had stayed inside Mexico in a hotel called OXXO. He said it may be the best for a family. But for students or guys traveling alone, it might be the cheapest option. He paid $27/day plus the consulate is pretty close.
6. Document List:
• Original Passport with I-94
• DS-156, 157 and 158 (for both H1 and H4).
• 2 Photographs
• Banamex Receipt
• Original H1B Petition
• Copy of I-129 and LCA
• Employment letter from my new company
• Company profile
• Original Marriage Certificate
• Last 3 months pay stub
• Last 3 years W2
• Latest Resume and Job description
• Last 3 months bank statement
• Additional copy of Petition, I-129, LCA, certificates and mark sheets.
• All original certificates and mark sheets.
Our Journey:
We landed in Phoenix, AZ the day before our appointment on the 25th of June. There will be rental car shuttles that take you to the rental car center, which is pretty far from the airport. Make sure you get directions to Nogales, AZ from the rental car center. The customer service rep gave us a print out to get to Nogales. We drove & reached Nogales, AZ around 2p.m on 25th June. Plan to get there the previous day. You need to the rest because you should be prepared to stand & roam around in the sun for at least 12 to 14hrs the next day. We rested for a while and then in the evening we drove around to locate the McDonalds parking where you could park your car for $4.00 a day. McDonalds is open 24hrs & most of the guys had parked their cars there. Its pretty safe.
Next day we got ready around 6:30 am, had our breakfast and started around 6:45am. We parked our car in the McDonalds parking lot and started walking towards the international border. On the border we met another Chinese person who was also going for Visa stamping. Crossing the border was very simple, there is a revolving gate and just go through the gates. You will see lot of cabs near the border and three of us took a cab to American Consulate. They charge about $7 or $8 depending on the number of people. It took us about 10mins to reach the consulate. Fix the rate before getting into the cab. They can speak broken English.
At the Consulate…
At 7:15am there were about 150 people in front of us and we went and joined the line. You cannot take cell phones, remote car keys, pagers, laptops, food, etc., inside the consulate. We put our car keys, cell phones and other stuff in a bag and left it with the Burrito shop vendor opposite to the consulate. You can pay $1 or $2 per bag.
The line moved slowly, around 8:15a.m a lady came to us to check whether we had completed all the forms (DS-156, 157 and 158) for both of us. I didn't have completed DS-158 for my wife, so she asked us to complete it. After completing that she allowed us inside the consulate. If you didn’t fill out something, do it & show it to her. Once she approves it, she will let you inside to stand in another line. There was another line for security check, it took us 15 to 20mins to complete that process. Inside there was another line for getting the token number. The lady there checks all the forms, passport and Banamex receipts, arranges them in a particular order and gives a token number. Ours was number 187 and we took a seat around 9:30am.
Biometrics…
We waited for more than an hour, before our number was called for finger printing and photograph. This was a straight forward process and it took about 5 to 10mins for both of us. You may wonder what is taking them so long for Biometrics. The lady there will manually type all the info into the computer and takes around 5 to 10mins for each person.
Interview…
After that we waited for our number to be called for interview. Around 11:45 they called our number for interview. First we gave our passport, filled out application forms and H1B petition to the visa officer. She checked all the papers and previously stamped L1 visa in my passport. She asked whether she could go ahead and cancel the L1 visa, I requested her not to do so until my H1B is approved. Then she asked for my resume. She scanned through my resume and started typing something; she didn't even talk to us for next 5 to 10mins. She asked us only one question, how long have you been married? That’s it, next thing she said was our visa has been approved and asked us to pay the reciprocity fee $50/- each for visa.
At last, a big sigh of relief. You can see smiles around. Wow, now it feels like I can breath freely again.
We went to the other counter paid the fees and they gave a slip stating that we could come at 3pm to collect the passport. Even though they accept the payment of reciprocity fees through credit card, it is better to have cash. We were out of the consulate around 12:10pm. Our Chinese friend also completed his interview around the same time and we decided to go together for lunch.
Note: We didn’t see anyone’s visa get rejected on that day expect for a Mexican applying for tourist visa. Everyone got their visa stamped.
Food…
If you walk around, you will find Domino’s Pizza, McDonalds & Burger King. Please carry enough cash and don’t have it all in your purse. They accept only cash & can hardly speak any English. If you are carrying a back pack have at least 5 bottles of water for each person. It is very hot & humid in Nogales. You can buy water there at the Burrito shop too.
Chat around with people around you. Trust me, you would meet some amazing people, who may not have spoken & hung out with you in any other situation. Talking with others with similar situation melts the pressure. If I have to get stamping, I would definitely choose Nogales over Chennai.
Collect your passport at 3p.m…
The consulate people wouldn't allow us to form a line for passport collection until 3pm. To collect the passport only one person per family is allowed, your spouse has to stand outside. (So you need not give your bags & keys again to the Burrito Vendor. You can leave it with your spouse or any other friends you met). At 3pm we started forming the line. We went inside the consulate around 3:15pm and waited outside the security check point. Our passports were not ready so we had to wait some more time. They let us in around 3:45 pm in the batches of 5. I went to the counter showed my Id and collected the passport around 4pm. I checked the visa information in the passport and I was out of the consulate by 4:05pm. We waited for some of our new friends and then we all started walking towards the taxi stand at the end of the road (Onto your left when you exit the Consulate).It took us 20mins to get a cab and by the time we reached border it was around 5pm. You can share the cab with the new friends. We had a good time & totally didn’t see what was coming at us next.
The nightmare that we didn’t see coming…
Every one of us thought that we could get our I-94 and be there in US at 6 or 7pm, but a worst nightmare struck. The security officer told us that they didn't have enough resources to issue new I-94 to so many people and asked us to come back after 2hours. By now, most of us were exhausted. I mean it. We were all pretty beat. We all then waited near the border in different groups, had a cup of coffee and then around 7pm we went to the border again.
The officer then took us upstairs and we had to wait for 2hrs before I-94 was issued. Waiting for the I-94 was the worst part. They again took our finger print and photograph. We were hungry and tired as we have been standing most of the time during the day. By the time we got our I-94 it was 9pm. We had booked our flight from Phoenix at 6:00am the next day. We crossed the border, had some burgers in Burger king and then we started driving towards Phoenix.
DO NOT book your return flight ticket on the same day as your appointment. Some people had to reschedule their tickets. You don’t need the hassle of rescheduling your flight tickets at that hour.
Our sincere thanks to all the forum members, who had posted their experience & made ours a hassle-free experience.
1. We booked our appointment through http://www.visa-usa.com.mx/default.aspx. You have to pay $10 using a major credit card for pin purchase. That pin number is valid for 3 months and provides you with 2 rescheduling options. If you would like to shuffle your appointments around you can purchase multiple pins also.
2. We did not take any Mexico visa/permit as many suggested that it is not required for Nogales. You can stay in Nogales for 72hours legally without a permit. Also, permit is not required if you are going to stay 20KM from the border (Please refer to Mexican embassy website for latest information as these things keep on changing).
3. We got the Banamex receipts two weeks prior to the appointment data through Mark Lehmann. We paid him $260, which included visa fees (105x2) and service charge. He ships the receipts through Fedex 2nd day delivery. Your passport number should be printed on the Banamex Receipt. Visit this website http://www.mexico-assistance.com/APrepaidVisaApplicationFeeInfo.html for complete information. There is a Banamex Bank that is very close to the consulate and it opens at 9a.m. But if you are like many of us, the walk to the Banamex is the last thing you want to do on the day of the appointment.
4. We decided to fly to Phoenix, AZ and then drive from there. Nogales, AZ is about 175miles from Phoenix airport. Nogales Mexico is other side of the border. Do not book the return tickets on the same day. Give atleast a day's lead time.
5. We booked a room at Best Western Siesta Motel in Nogales, AZ for $55+tax a night. This hotel is about a mile from the international border and most of the Indians who had come for stamping, stayed in that hotel. Other options: There is a Motel 6, 3 miles away from the border, which charges $40/day. One other friend we met (a single guy) had stayed inside Mexico in a hotel called OXXO. He said it may be the best for a family. But for students or guys traveling alone, it might be the cheapest option. He paid $27/day plus the consulate is pretty close.
6. Document List:
• Original Passport with I-94
• DS-156, 157 and 158 (for both H1 and H4).
• 2 Photographs
• Banamex Receipt
• Original H1B Petition
• Copy of I-129 and LCA
• Employment letter from my new company
• Company profile
• Original Marriage Certificate
• Last 3 months pay stub
• Last 3 years W2
• Latest Resume and Job description
• Last 3 months bank statement
• Additional copy of Petition, I-129, LCA, certificates and mark sheets.
• All original certificates and mark sheets.
Our Journey:
We landed in Phoenix, AZ the day before our appointment on the 25th of June. There will be rental car shuttles that take you to the rental car center, which is pretty far from the airport. Make sure you get directions to Nogales, AZ from the rental car center. The customer service rep gave us a print out to get to Nogales. We drove & reached Nogales, AZ around 2p.m on 25th June. Plan to get there the previous day. You need to the rest because you should be prepared to stand & roam around in the sun for at least 12 to 14hrs the next day. We rested for a while and then in the evening we drove around to locate the McDonalds parking where you could park your car for $4.00 a day. McDonalds is open 24hrs & most of the guys had parked their cars there. Its pretty safe.
Next day we got ready around 6:30 am, had our breakfast and started around 6:45am. We parked our car in the McDonalds parking lot and started walking towards the international border. On the border we met another Chinese person who was also going for Visa stamping. Crossing the border was very simple, there is a revolving gate and just go through the gates. You will see lot of cabs near the border and three of us took a cab to American Consulate. They charge about $7 or $8 depending on the number of people. It took us about 10mins to reach the consulate. Fix the rate before getting into the cab. They can speak broken English.
At the Consulate…
At 7:15am there were about 150 people in front of us and we went and joined the line. You cannot take cell phones, remote car keys, pagers, laptops, food, etc., inside the consulate. We put our car keys, cell phones and other stuff in a bag and left it with the Burrito shop vendor opposite to the consulate. You can pay $1 or $2 per bag.
The line moved slowly, around 8:15a.m a lady came to us to check whether we had completed all the forms (DS-156, 157 and 158) for both of us. I didn't have completed DS-158 for my wife, so she asked us to complete it. After completing that she allowed us inside the consulate. If you didn’t fill out something, do it & show it to her. Once she approves it, she will let you inside to stand in another line. There was another line for security check, it took us 15 to 20mins to complete that process. Inside there was another line for getting the token number. The lady there checks all the forms, passport and Banamex receipts, arranges them in a particular order and gives a token number. Ours was number 187 and we took a seat around 9:30am.
Biometrics…
We waited for more than an hour, before our number was called for finger printing and photograph. This was a straight forward process and it took about 5 to 10mins for both of us. You may wonder what is taking them so long for Biometrics. The lady there will manually type all the info into the computer and takes around 5 to 10mins for each person.
Interview…
After that we waited for our number to be called for interview. Around 11:45 they called our number for interview. First we gave our passport, filled out application forms and H1B petition to the visa officer. She checked all the papers and previously stamped L1 visa in my passport. She asked whether she could go ahead and cancel the L1 visa, I requested her not to do so until my H1B is approved. Then she asked for my resume. She scanned through my resume and started typing something; she didn't even talk to us for next 5 to 10mins. She asked us only one question, how long have you been married? That’s it, next thing she said was our visa has been approved and asked us to pay the reciprocity fee $50/- each for visa.
At last, a big sigh of relief. You can see smiles around. Wow, now it feels like I can breath freely again.
We went to the other counter paid the fees and they gave a slip stating that we could come at 3pm to collect the passport. Even though they accept the payment of reciprocity fees through credit card, it is better to have cash. We were out of the consulate around 12:10pm. Our Chinese friend also completed his interview around the same time and we decided to go together for lunch.
Note: We didn’t see anyone’s visa get rejected on that day expect for a Mexican applying for tourist visa. Everyone got their visa stamped.
Food…
If you walk around, you will find Domino’s Pizza, McDonalds & Burger King. Please carry enough cash and don’t have it all in your purse. They accept only cash & can hardly speak any English. If you are carrying a back pack have at least 5 bottles of water for each person. It is very hot & humid in Nogales. You can buy water there at the Burrito shop too.
Chat around with people around you. Trust me, you would meet some amazing people, who may not have spoken & hung out with you in any other situation. Talking with others with similar situation melts the pressure. If I have to get stamping, I would definitely choose Nogales over Chennai.
Collect your passport at 3p.m…
The consulate people wouldn't allow us to form a line for passport collection until 3pm. To collect the passport only one person per family is allowed, your spouse has to stand outside. (So you need not give your bags & keys again to the Burrito Vendor. You can leave it with your spouse or any other friends you met). At 3pm we started forming the line. We went inside the consulate around 3:15pm and waited outside the security check point. Our passports were not ready so we had to wait some more time. They let us in around 3:45 pm in the batches of 5. I went to the counter showed my Id and collected the passport around 4pm. I checked the visa information in the passport and I was out of the consulate by 4:05pm. We waited for some of our new friends and then we all started walking towards the taxi stand at the end of the road (Onto your left when you exit the Consulate).It took us 20mins to get a cab and by the time we reached border it was around 5pm. You can share the cab with the new friends. We had a good time & totally didn’t see what was coming at us next.
The nightmare that we didn’t see coming…
Every one of us thought that we could get our I-94 and be there in US at 6 or 7pm, but a worst nightmare struck. The security officer told us that they didn't have enough resources to issue new I-94 to so many people and asked us to come back after 2hours. By now, most of us were exhausted. I mean it. We were all pretty beat. We all then waited near the border in different groups, had a cup of coffee and then around 7pm we went to the border again.
The officer then took us upstairs and we had to wait for 2hrs before I-94 was issued. Waiting for the I-94 was the worst part. They again took our finger print and photograph. We were hungry and tired as we have been standing most of the time during the day. By the time we got our I-94 it was 9pm. We had booked our flight from Phoenix at 6:00am the next day. We crossed the border, had some burgers in Burger king and then we started driving towards Phoenix.
DO NOT book your return flight ticket on the same day as your appointment. Some people had to reschedule their tickets. You don’t need the hassle of rescheduling your flight tickets at that hour.
Our sincere thanks to all the forum members, who had posted their experience & made ours a hassle-free experience.
Last edited by a moderator: