Successful H1B visa stamping in Vancouver

[ihsinch]

Hi All,

It's my first time to get H1B visa, transferring from F1 visa. I am going to provide the timeline of my H1B visa stamping process. This information should help you on how long to stay in Vancouver hotels.

 

10/14(Tue.) 

My appointment was at 10:15 am. I arrived in the US consular at around 9:40 am and came out at around 12~1 pm. It was so boring while waiting for the interview. No cellphone, no magazines.. The only thing to do is watching the boring TV commercial on the wall. However, you still need to wait.

 

Few questions I was asked..

1. Which company you work with?
2. What's your position?
3. When did you start to work with this company?
4. Did you study in the US? The school name and the major?

Documents I was asked to provide..

1. Offer letter
2. H1B application LCA

 

After passed the interview, the interviewer said I need to wait 3 business days to get back my passport, which matches the process time showing on this website.

 

10/15(Wed.)

I checked my visa status on the CEACStatTracker site. You should enter your DS-160 confirmation No. as your Application ID. The status was "Administrative Processing"

 

10/16(Thu.)

My CEACStatTracker status changed to "Issued" in the afternoon, but I was not able to get my passport back on the day after checking with the staff at Richmond Loomis.

 

10/17(Fri.)

I received an email from Loomis at 00:37 am saying my passport has been picked up from the Consular Section and the Waybill Number is provided in the email.

 

My Loomis shipment schedule is provided as below.

Date Time Status City

2014-10-17 11:10 Successfully Delivered RICHMOND

2014-10-17 07:04 In Facility RICHMOND

2014-10-16 18:55 Picked Up by Loomis RICHMOND

2014-10-16 00:00 Shipment Record Received RICHMOND

 

So I picked up my passport in the morning and drove back to Seattle on the same day.

Another thing I want to note here is..

When I was inspected on the boarder, I was asked to park the car and go to the 2nd. inspection area. The officer checked my i-797 form and gave me a paper I-94 form(I remember all the I-94 forms have become electronic format since 2012?). And I pay a $6 USD fee after the 2nd inspection although until now I still cannot get a clear idea why I should pay this.

 

Okay. So here is my H1B stamping experience in a country other than my homeland. Now I know when they say 3 business processing day, it does not include the day of your interview. Good Luck to all of you!

 

[Aaman786]

Congrats..

[sharanlinga]

I  was heading to US from Ottawa by road and I had the same doubt so I asked the agent at POE and he said If your travelling to US by road or water  you will get a paper format of I-94.

[ihsinch]

@h1bca,

Good to know that. Thank you. :)