*****For everyone making an apointment in India thru VFS website*****

[aHappyTexan]

Friends,

I just came across this discussion and thought of posting my quesitons here as it will apply to everyone who is going to make a visa stamping apointment in India...

- When looking at the availale dates, you see a few basic questions on VFS website, one of it is:

"Are you applying for the same class of visa which is currently valid or has expired within the past 12 months?*"

Yes/ No

* Please click here for Visa Renewal Criteria

If you click on the "click here" link you will see the criteria below for your case to be qualified as "renewal" --

Visa renewal appointments are available to visa applicants who:

-Have the same class of U.S. visa which is still valid or that has expired less than 12 months from the scheduled date of interview.

-Wish to apply for the same visa class (e.g. had an H1 work visa, now applying again for an H1 work visa)

-Are Indian nationals (hold Indian passports)

-Are resident in the New Delhi, Chennai or Mumbai consular districts (Applicants attending the interview at the U.S. Consulates in Kolkata and Hyderabad do not have an option to select the option for visa renewal. They may opt for a regular interview).

I am on H1b extension (7th year) and never had any gaps. But my 6th year H1b exprired more than a year before (Septmember 2010) my visa apointment date which is in November 2011. So a friend of mine who had his visa stamping done in Mumbai in February 2011 tells me I have to select "No" to the same visa class question as according to one of the criteria above (visa expired less than 12 months ago), I don't qualify for "renwal." Otherwise they will reject my application.

I interpreted this as if I am qualified for "renewal" as it's the same category of visa (H1b).

So there is a confusion here - whether my *visa expired 12 months back? Or my *stamping expired 12 months back?

Anyone has any opinion? Better yet, anyone has any recent exprience who is in the same boat? Please share as it will be extremely useful to me and everyone in my situation.

Thanks, as always.