Calgary H1 Stamping Administrative Processing


vaibh4

Recommended Posts

After reading all the negative posts regarding experiences at Calgary consulate and also note from lawyer that they do not recommend to go anywhere but the home country, me my wife (H4) still took an appointment with Calgary consulate.

Got appointment for March 6th. The process is fairly simple. Security check, first document check, waiting, further checking of documents by first VO, waiting, finger printing, waiting, final VO interview.

My appointment was at 10.00 and we got inside the consulate around 9.45 after security check. The first VO was speaking so slow that I had to ask her twice to repeat her questions which may have made her a bit mad. Very simple questions like why are you in Canda, company name, position, why my wife's surname is different etc. Then she asked us to wait for finger printing.

After waiting for 15-20 minutes our number showed up on the screen for finger printing and we both gave the impressions of five fingures.

After another 20 minutes of wait and we were called for final interview. The lady here was clear and asked similar questions

Company name

Job profile

Education

# of years of experience

Asked my resume and started at it for what seemed like ages.

Then she asked if I work on alloys? (I am a materials scientist)

After that she gave us the famous Administrative Processing white letter and told that our case is approved but need further administrative processing. It will take up to 3 weeks. You are free to go anywhere but US. You have to send the passport to us when we email you within Canada. We do not need any further documents from you at least thats what the letter says.

Fortunately my company has office in Calgary and they have agreed to pay for my hotel etc during the stay. Now in waiting period. If you are currently stuck in Calgary let me know your experiences as well.

Link to comment

Hi Vaibh4, my experience was quite similar as yours. The VO asked me whether my current job is same as my previous job (I am a Research Engineer working with specialized sensors). She then took my resume, looked through it, and said like last time they will have to do additional processing. I have been stuck here in Calgary since Feb 21st.

Link to comment

I noticed yesterday that my white letter does not mention 221 G or anything like that. Is it the same case for you ? And do you know if that is good or bad ? My petition was accepted that's what the lady said but they need to do further administrative processing. Since Feb 21 ? wow man I hope you receive the good news soon. Good luck !!

Link to comment

Good news! I got an email yesterday afternoon asking me to submit my passport (it did not say my visa was approved). I went to the consulate today morning and submitted my passport to the same VO. She then said my visa was approved and that I can pick it from DHL when ready :-)

To answer your queries - the white paper I got didn't say 221G. It had "Administrative Processing" as title along with a list of supporting documents they needed to make a decision. But none of the documents were selected for me, instead it just asked me to wait for further notification. I also do not believe there is a way to track the status of such administrative processing. Infact, I did search a lot, but nothing came up useful.

At this point, all I can say to you is to be patient, as most probably you will get your visa in a week or two.

Link to comment

Are you still in Calgary. Willing to share the accommodation let me know at technaveen.a@gmail.com

Are you still in Calgary. Willing to share the accommodation let me know at technaveen.a@gmail.com

I am staying in Hostel next to Consulate on 520 7th ave SE , and by far I think its the best and cheapest option in whole of Calgary.

If you want you can also move here .........It is just 23 $ a day and provides free wifi and Break fast .

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Guys,

I am joining the Deserted in Calgary group too. Had the interview on 27th March. Same details as vabhi, she did tell me the visa was approved but needed admin processing. employer is ok for work from hee 2-4 weeks but could get tough after that.

I had a question to you guys working here. can you work for your company while you are in Canada on visit visa? there are no issues with that?

Link to comment

Hey guys!! Hope you all have heard back from the consulate by now... Calgary seems to be the best option for me right now, air tickets being economical... I was targeting Vancouver but they don't have any dates available... I was wondering what kind of situation you guys are in; EVC? MS in the US? First-time stamping etc... I heard the stamping depends on all of that... I'm working directly for my company without any vendor as a full-time employee with an American MS degree... You guys think it'll be better for me in Calgary? I need immediate appointment dates and Ottawa, Calgary & Toronto satisfy that condition...

Link to comment

Boilerdam, it will be two weeks for me tomorrow. No news yet. I hope I hear something soon. My Experience was no different than what others have listed here. I am not working on some sensitive research, just in a specialized technology/IT. I have US Degrees (both), work as a FTE, but am Muslim (that could be a trigger I guess.)

Calgary consulate is really good with appointment availability. City is rather expensive though. Also, you need to think about what you are going to do here if you get stuck for a long time. If you get selected for Admin Processing they give you back the passport, so you can go back to home country if you want while you are waiting. I have family here so staying and costs are not a problem for me and other than the anxiety related to visa and job, I am having fun here but it would suck to get stuck here without knowing anyone or your company providing residence. it seems that most of the recent cases take around 2 weeks to a couple of months, so you may not want to leave the country that soon.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Simonsez, thanks for your response. Although my reply is late, I did read yours on the 9th itself. In the end, I did book an appointment for the 24th April in Calgary. I basically had no option since dates in India were choc-a-bloc (I feared this with the Fall 2012 F-1 student rush), the Mexico (Tijuana) consulate said they only do renewals and Ottawa/Calgary/Toronto were my only options...

Are you still in Calgary? If time permits, we could meet up... I'm looking to be there this Saturday, 21st... You can contact me on: d.meda@me.com...

Link to comment

Hey boilerdam,

Wish you best of luck dude! As I mentioned that I am living with family here and not in Downtown area so it will be difficult for me to get away over the weekend. I do come to downtown during the week as I have been helping out my cousin's team with advice on one of their technology projects and have scheduled a few interviews with local employers as a backup strategy in case my employer loses patience back in US. I will email you and we can meet up during the week though I sincerely wish that you don't get stuck here past Tuesday, which by the way will be completion of week 4 for me.

Good luck man!

Link to comment

Hey Simonsez, I got done with my interview today and I'd like to join your club of Admin processing :) My trigger was most probably my MS in Aerospace Engg... The answer to her question of "What's your MS in?" certainly changed her behavior & tone of voice... So I'm stuck here, she did give back my passport and all supporting documents... She/They has/have my DS-160 Confirmation, I-797 & I-129. Hopefully, your case is resolved and that mine won't take long... Keep in touch... We could probably meet up somewhere...

Link to comment

Hi Simonsez

Any updates for you?

I'm in a similar situation.Common Muslim name,Blue 221 G,No docs asked,VO did mention visa will be done,did not give me any time frame.

Visa Interview for H1-B extension: 10th April in Ottawa ( my first visa stamping was in India in Oct 2008 and had got the passport back in 3 days)

Employer: Full Time

Major: Chemical Engg.

Job Profile: Application Engineer for a large Fortune 500 company.(Large Industrial manufacturing Conglomerate)

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

I agree,not the best of combinations these days.but honestly no such questions were asked. VO briefly asked what do I work on and then how many siblings do I have? He then said my visa is done but needs the additional processing.

My company lawyers check with the consulate every week but they respond with the same BS that we have to wait a minimum of 60 days before any specific answer can be provided.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.