Matamoros successful stamping @ Oct 5

[champswc2011]

Hi there!

I went to Matamoros Consulate on Oct 5 for H1 stamping.

Drove from Dallas to Brownsville via San Antonio: 10/3/2016

Finger printing Appt.: 10/4/2016 – Passport and DS confirmation good enough. We kept other documents (just in case) and phones in Salvador’s car.

Interview: 10/5/2016

Went to Counter 1(officer with Hispanic roots) and I was the first one for him that day.

Greeting exchanged

Q1) who is your employer?

Q2) where are they located at?

First two questions were asked in less than 10 seconds and for rest of the time(6-10 minutes) officer was reviewing my case on the screen.

Q3) what is your title?

Q4) Are you renewing with the same employer?

Come and pick up the passport at 3 PM, if not, tomorrow. 

Misc. Info:

• Parked (5 USD/day) the car at UETA store and you will be charged for 3 days at least.
• You may have to change Tooltip language at DS 160 confirmation page because I ended up getting the DS 160 confirmation in Spanish and after changing the tooltip I got in English.
• Took Salvador services for the second time and his services were as awesome as the first time (Oct 2014), in fact a few notches better.  This time I paid everything to him in cash (US dollar). Food was awesome if you have a liking for authentic Mexican food .
• Salvador took us to consulate by 7:45 AM and I am out of the consulate by 8:20 AM something.
• While I was there, someone with DUI record was there and Salvador was extremely helpful to him and looks like his wife posted their experience in this forum(link).
• All people (10-15) who attended on 10/4 got same day whereas on 10/5 everyone (~10) except one lady (H1 to H4 conversion) had to wait for another day.
• I saw few folks have to reschedule their return flight tickets due to wait times at POE and/or passport not being ready. Please exercise your judgement when to book return flight. 

It took around 2 hr 45 minutes for me to clear POE since my case went to an officer who is unfamiliar with H1s and so he returned my pp to the original stack where all passports were placed and officer who was doing H1 went to review another case/break. I asked CBP officer if there was something with my case as I only H1 in the waiting room, his reply was "no and it is just that we are swamped". He seemed friendly at the same time professional.  He cracked few jokes here and there during the time.

Questions at POE:

• 1) Where are you going to? Showed him Driver’s License which is about to expire in a week. He said all he care about is whether the address in there is correct or not when I tried to show him the paper copy of new license)
• 2) Who is your employer?
• 3) What is your Title?
• 4) How long it is been in US?

If driving by car to San Antonio, there will be another check at Sarita, TX. This will be more of a casual talk and have visa handy.

Good Luck!!!

Disclaimer: This is just my experience and please don't conclude anything from this post without proper research.

[premkalyan521]

6 hours ago, champswc2011 said:

Hi there!

I went to Matamoros Consulate on Oct 5 for H1 stamping.

Drove from Dallas to Brownsville via San Antonio: 10/3/2016

Finger printing Appt.: 10/4/2016 – Passport and DS confirmation good enough. We kept other documents (just in case) and phones in Salvador’s car.

Interview: 10/5/2016

Went to Counter 1(officer with Hispanic roots) and I was the first one for him that day.

Greeting exchanged

Q1) who is your employer?

Q2) where are they located at?

First two questions were asked in less than 10 seconds and for rest of the time(6-10 minutes) officer was reviewing my case on the screen.

Q3) what is your title?

Q4) Are you renewing with the same employer?

Come and pick up the passport at 3 PM, if not, tomorrow. 

Misc. Info:

• Parked (5 USD/day) the car at UETA store and you will be charged for 3 days at least.
• You may have to change Tooltip language at DS 160 confirmation page because I ended up getting the DS 160 confirmation in Spanish and after changing the tooltip I got in English.
• Took Salvador services for the second time and his services were as awesome as the first time (Oct 2014), in fact a few notches better.  This time I paid everything to him in cash (US dollar). Food was awesome if you have a liking for authentic Mexican food .
• Salvador took us to consulate by 7:45 AM and I am out of the consulate by 8:20 AM something.
• While I was there, someone with DUI record was there and Salvador was extremely helpful to him and looks like his wife posted their experience in this forum(link).
• All people (10-15) who attended on 10/4 got same day whereas on 10/5 everyone (~10) except one lady (H1 to H4 conversion) had to wait for another day.
• I saw few folks have to reschedule their return flight tickets due to wait times at POE and/or passport not being ready. Please exercise your judgement when to book return flight. 

It took around 2 hr 45 minutes for me to clear POE since my case went to an officer who is unfamiliar with H1s and so he returned my pp to the original stack where all passports were placed and officer who was doing H1 went to review another case/break. I asked CBP officer if there was something with my case as I only H1 in the waiting room, his reply was "no and it is just that we are swamped". He seemed friendly at the same time professional.  He cracked few jokes here and there during the time.

Questions at POE:

• 1) Where are you going to? Showed him Driver’s License which is about to expire in a week. He said all he care about is whether the address in there is correct or not when I tried to show him the paper copy of new license)
• 2) Who is your employer?
• 3) What is your Title?
• 4) How long it is been in US?

If driving by car to San Antonio, there will be another check at Sarita, TX. This will be more of a casual talk and have visa handy.

Good Luck!!!

Disclaimer: This is just my experience and please don't conclude anything from this post without proper research.

Thanks alot for taking ur time and posting ur experience 

[sirjadeja]

Hey Champ,

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

I have one question though ...

 

At the time of POE, when the officer asked Questions at POE:

• 1) Where are you going to? Showed him Driver’s License which is about to expire in a week. He said all he care about is whether the address in there is correct or not when I tried to show him the paper copy of new license)

 

To which address did he cross check with?

 

I have a IL license and I will be flying from ST Louis, MO(Client place), should that be fine?

 

I never changed my DL from IL to MO. Please reply ...

[champswc2011]

On 11/1/2016 at 10:43 AM, sirjadeja said:

Hey Champ,

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

I have one question though ...

 

At the time of POE, when the officer asked Questions at POE:

• 1) Where are you going to? Showed him Driver’s License which is about to expire in a week. He said all he care about is whether the address in there is correct or not when I tried to show him the paper copy of new license)

 

To which address did he cross check with?

 

I have a IL license and I will be flying from ST Louis, MO(Client place), should that be fine?

 

I never changed my DL from IL to MO. Please reply ...

Both my old and new DL have the same address.