H1Bworkerbee Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 Hello, I just wanted to share both my wife's as well as my experiences with using the visa interview waiver (Dropbox) program to renew our respective H1B visas at the Chennai consulate in June 2017. My case: June 12th - Dropped my passport and other needed docs at the visa application center June 14th - Visa status changed to " Administrative Processing" June 15th - Got an email that my passport is ready for pickup but the visa status still remained " Administrative Processing", I did not realize that my visa had not been issued, I thought that the visa status will be updated later. I got the email towards the end of the day and so could not pick up the passport that day June 16th - I went to pick up the passport at the earliest time that they opened which was 10 AM. I was in for a surprise when I got the passport. After I received the passport I was checking to see how long I had gotten the visa for and that is when I saw the blue 221g form. It asked me to appear for an interview between 11 am to 12 pm on any Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. Since the 16th of June was a Friday and I had gotten the passport back at 10:40 am I still had time to make it to the interview on the same day and so after having someone bring me all my documents (they had not asked for any documents in the 221g form, I just took them as a precaution, like I usually do for all my visa interviews, the only thing the 221g form said was to appear for the interview with a case number on it) I made it to the consulate at 11:40 am and they let me after looking at the 221g form. Once inside the consulate they took my fingerprints and then wrote a number on the 221g form, which I later found out was the counter that I was supposed to go to. After the fingerprinting I joined the line and when I made it to the front and the people who manage the lines saw my 221g form with a number on it they asked me to sit and wait as the counter that was assigned to me was occupied. Once that counter became available again they asked me go there. I suspect the VO who interviewed me was the one who originally worked on my dropbox case and so I was sent to him for my interview. In the interview itself he asked me who I worked for, salary, title, client name, if I had a masters degree, which I did, where I was going to working , where I was going to be staying and to explain my job duties briefly. He typed all this into his computer and then did not say anything for a few seconds, which felt like an eternity to me. After that he said that my visa was approved and gave me back the 221g form and held on to the passport. June 16th to 18th - Being a weekend the visa status did not change from "Administrative Processing" but what gave me some pause was on the ustravel docs website the passport status said "Passport has been picked up" This status did not change after my interview, it stayed the same throughout the process. I even opened a case with them but the status was the same. June 19th - I kept checking the status of my visa and it still said "Administrative Processing" but on June 19th it changed to issued around 2 pm. Passport status still said picked up so I was a little anxious as to how I will know when to pick up the passport. June 20th - I opened a case with ustraveldocs as I mentioned above asking them about the status still saying that my passport was picked up and how I will know when to pick up my passport. They did not respond with anything useful or any clarification however I got an email saying that my passport was ready to be picked up at 3 PM which was a little bit after I opened the case so I am not sure if it helped or not. By the time I saw the email it was already 3:40 pm and so I did not have enough time to go pick up my passport which has to be done by 4 PM. One other thing was I had also received a text on the phone number saying passport ready for pick up that I had provided them for an earlier visa interview last year, which did not happen when I was asked to pick up the passport with the 221g form. June 21st - I picked up my passport around 11:30 am and I had the visa with 3 years validity. My wife's case: June 27th - Dropped the passport and other needed documents June 28th - No status June 29th - Case created June 30th to July 4th - Administrative Processing July 5th - Issued at around 10:30 am and we did not get an email saying to come pick up the passport but we kept checking the status of the passport on the ustraveldocs portal and towards the end of the day it said passport ready for pickup. July 6th - Picked up passport at around 11 am with the visa stamped. Thanks for reading. Link to comment
Venkat89 Posted July 12, 2017 Report Share Posted July 12, 2017 Congratulations....Thanks for sharing. Link to comment
Rameshwar Rao Posted December 14, 2017 Report Share Posted December 14, 2017 @H1Bworkerbee Thank you, it helps! Hi, I've submitted my documents for H1-B drop box in US Consulate, New Delhi (India). Monday, 12/11/2017 : Submitted documents at VFS, New Delhi (India) Tuesday, 12/12/2017 : Status changed to 'Passport being sent to Consulate'. Wednesday, 12/13/2017 : Status changed to 'Admin Processing' (CEAC website) / 'Passport is still with the US consulate' (US Travel Docs and CGI Federal) Thursday, 12/14/2017 : Same status, 'Admin Processing' (CEAC website) / 'Passport is still with the US consulate' (US Travel Docs and CGI Federal) Does anyone with previous experience would know how long does it take to get approved in drop box process now a days (December, 2017)? I'm hoping and praying to see it to "Approved" with stamped passport ASAP. Regards, RR Link to comment
milu Posted December 21, 2017 Report Share Posted December 21, 2017 On 12/14/2017 at 11:19 AM, Rameshwar Rao said: @H1Bworkerbee Thank you, it helps! Hi, I've submitted my documents for H1-B drop box in US Consulate, New Delhi (India). Monday, 12/11/2017 : Submitted documents at VFS, New Delhi (India) Tuesday, 12/12/2017 : Status changed to 'Passport being sent to Consulate'. Wednesday, 12/13/2017 : Status changed to 'Admin Processing' (CEAC website) / 'Passport is still with the US consulate' (US Travel Docs and CGI Federal) Thursday, 12/14/2017 : Same status, 'Admin Processing' (CEAC website) / 'Passport is still with the US consulate' (US Travel Docs and CGI Federal) Does anyone with previous experience would know how long does it take to get approved in drop box process now a days (December, 2017)? I'm hoping and praying to see it to "Approved" with stamped passport ASAP. Regards, RR I’m on the same boat, I dropped on 12/12 . did u get any more updates? Link to comment
sairamayappa Posted January 25, 2019 Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 H1B Dropbox Experience Chennai - Jan 2019 Document Drop off: 31th Dec 2018 Notification "Ready to pick up passport": end of day 6th Jan 2019 Picked up passport: end of day 6th Jan 2019 221g Blue slip to appear for an interview with below documents. (10 to 11 AM on any MON, Tue, Thurs, Friday) 1. USCIS extension supporting docs 2. Client letter 3.2 years pay stubs 4. Detailed and technical description of Project Attended interview at Chennai: 10 Jan 2019 VO asked below questions. 1. What does your company do? 2. What is your salary? 3. Work location? 4. About family members and visa status? She took my passport along with documents was retained by the Visa Officer. She returned all the documents and keep passport with her. She said, your visa is approved. Notification "Ready to pick up passport": end of day 14th Jan 2019 Visa printed on my passport All the best Link to comment
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