Can an Indian citizen get renewed H1b Visa stamp in his spouse's country during vacation?


frozen_angel

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Hello,

I am an Indian citizen present in US on H1B visa. I am married to a Polish citizen who is present on H4 Visa. We both got our stamp from our own home countries. Our current visa was supposed to expire this year in July but a few months before that I switched companies and the new company filed for both our visas extensions and transfer which was approved till 2021.

The employer has also filed for PERM which is approved and currently we are in process of filing I-140 and I-1485. This will be filed in a week or so on basis of cross chargeability.

We are planning to travel to Poland during the Christmas holiday and to re-enter we will need new stamps. I emailed the US Embassy in Poland about a third country spouse getting an H1B stamp and received a generic reply:

Thank you for your contacting the United States Consulate General in Krakow. Please be informed that a third-country national may apply for visa in any U.S. diplomatic post however it is generally recommended that a visa applicant apply for a visa in their home consular district. We hope this information will be useful to you.

I am trying to understand if I should go ahead and travel to Poland and apply for the stamping there as I have a legitimate reason for applying in the third country or should I make plans to go to India and get stamping there. We have a limited number of days off and breaking it in traveling to both India and Poland will be very hard. Also, in Poland can I use the dropbox facility or should I do an appointment. 

 

Will it be better if we both get the stamp in India or will that be a problem for my spouse? I am guessing this might be less risky as she is my dependent. Is my understanding correct?

 

Thanks. 

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According to current situations, all the applicants visa's are going through admin processing which might take from a month to 3 months to get the passport with stamp. So that's why it is advised  that a visa applicant apply for a visa in their home consular district is best option to sit home if  the process delayed. All the best.

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3 hours ago, frozen_angel said:

Hello,

I am an Indian citizen present in US on H1B visa. I am married to a Polish citizen who is present on H4 Visa. We both got our stamp from our own home countries. Our current visa was supposed to expire this year in July but a few months before that I switched companies and the new company filed for both our visas extensions and transfer which was approved till 2021.

The employer has also filed for PERM which is approved and currently we are in process of filing I-140 and I-1485. This will be filed in a week or so on basis of cross chargeability.

We are planning to travel to Poland during the Christmas holiday and to re-enter we will need new stamps. I emailed the US Embassy in Poland about a third country spouse getting an H1B stamp and received a generic reply:

Thank you for your contacting the United States Consulate General in Krakow. Please be informed that a third-country national may apply for visa in any U.S. diplomatic post however it is generally recommended that a visa applicant apply for a visa in their home consular district. We hope this information will be useful to you.

I am trying to understand if I should go ahead and travel to Poland and apply for the stamping there as I have a legitimate reason for applying in the third country or should I make plans to go to India and get stamping there. We have a limited number of days off and breaking it in traveling to both India and Poland will be very hard. Also, in Poland can I use the dropbox facility or should I do an appointment. 

  

Will it be better if we both get the stamp in India or will that be a problem for my spouse? I am guessing this might be less risky as she is my dependent. Is my understanding correct?

 

Thanks. 

Check with your employer attorney. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/22/2018 at 7:53 PM, pontevecchio said:

Your I-140 if approved will get you a EAD and AP very soon. Find out from your employer about PP for the I-140 if possible. Do not leave until your EAD/AP based on AOS is approved. 

I just submitted the I-485 and required documents to the company lawyers a few days ago and they will do the filing now. They will be doing a concurrent filing of I-485 and I-140.

They said since I will be traveling outside of the country before my AP can be approved if submitted now they will not file it now. They will only file for I-140, I-485, and I-765. They said once I come back in the first week of Jan 2019 they will go ahead and file for AP as it can be done any time while the application is pending and is not required to be filed together.

Is there any reason why you are recommending not to leave the country without EAP/AD approval?

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