H1B Stamping Approved in Toronto but waiting for PIMS


torontodarling

Recommended Posts

Hi,

My H1b visa interview was on Monday (30th July 2012) at 2:00pm. The interview went well and the Visa officer said that my visa is approved but the petition is not in the PIMS. He kept my passport and the I-797 and said that they will email me once its ready to pick up. As of today (1st August, 5pm) I havent received any email. I checked the spam emails too.

Anybody in Toronto on the same day interview and did not had PIMS? Did you receive any email from Loomis yet?

Link to comment

Hi,

Here is my experience about my recent H1b stamping interview at Toronto Consulate (30th July 2012, Monday at 2:00pm EST).

My background:

Bachelor of Science degree in the US from a reputed university

F1 to H1b Change of Status

Full-time direct employee (no middleman involved)

Interview:

Me: Good Afternoon

VO (Looking into my eyes surprisingly as I think I greeted him before he did as no one might have greeted before him): Good Afternoon. How are you?

Me: Doing Good.

VO (Looking into my passport for F1 visa): So, [my university's name] grad, huh?

Me: Yup

VO: So, you all [my university] are doing great in basketball.

Me: Yup

VO: So, what do you do?

Me: I am a [my role] at [my H1b petitioner]

VO: And whats that?

Me: You mean what [my filing company] does?

VO: Yes

Me: I explained him.

VO: Do you work at client's location?

Me: No, I work at [my filing company's] office location.

VO: Ok, I am approving your visa. But, your petition is not showing in our database [PIMS]. So, it may take a day extra than normally to get your passport back. He kept my passport and the I-797.

Me: Ok, thanks fine. Thanks!

VO: Sure, No problem.

And boom, I was out of the consulate.

Moral of the Story: Talk confidently. If you are a full time employee you should not have problems unless something happened before you became FTE. If you are on EC model then make sure to have needed documents (letter verifying your employment, contract between employer and client etc.) If on EVC model then Good luck because not many are approved these days.

[1st August], I saw the status on ceac.state.gov website that my visa was issued. Hopefully, I will get an email from Loomis tomorrow to pick up my passport.

Link to comment

so visa officer kept your passpost and I797 with him to pick up later?? Are you still in Toronto?

Yes, The Visa officer kept my passport and I-797 and yes, I am still in Toronto. The ceac.state.gov website has the status as "Visa Issued" yesterday and hence I might be receiving the email from Loomis to get the passport today.

Link to comment

Hi torontodarling,

Thanks for all the information. What was your status on ceac.state.gov website before your visa was issued ? Did it say it was "in process" ? Or did it say "Refused" ?

Thanks !

On the ceac.state.gov the following were the statuses:

30th July 2012 [just after the interview on the same day]: Refused.

31st July 2012: Administrative processing [i think this is PIMS check in progress]

1st August 2012 [around 3 pm]: Issued

2nd August 2012: [around 9 am]: Issued. Undergoing final processing

Link to comment

I finished my interview on Monday July 30th and the VO said my visa is approved and that I should watch for an email from Loomis mostly by friday. I have'nt recieved the email from Loomis yet nor I see my waybill number at http://usvisa-info.com.

Are there any other ways to track the passport? I hope I am not missing anything here.

Yup, same here. Havent received any email. Also, Monday is a holiday in Canada and so Loomis is going to be closed. So, would probably get the passport on Tuesday.

Link to comment

I finished my interview on Monday July 30th and the VO said my visa is approved and that I should watch for an email from Loomis mostly by friday. I have'nt recieved the email from Loomis yet nor I see my waybill number at http://usvisa-info.com.

Are there any other ways to track the passport? I hope I am not missing anything here.

Just got an email from loomis at 6:58pm today. But, they close at 7:00pm and Monday is a holiday. So, I will be picking it up on Tuesday.

Link to comment

Hi Toronto Darling,

Congratulations on your visa.

I am attending the F-1 to H1B interview on August 13th in Toronto, I am FTE. can you please share the accomodation (best hotel near by consualte) and other details related to travel ? Any specific documents they are looking for specific to Toronto Consulate ?

Thanks

Accommodation: Right now in July the colleges are off and hence the University of Toronto gives away its dorm rooms for $30 or so per night. So, I stayed there which was 1.5km away from the consulate and hence I walked. After 3 days I moved to another motel near the airport [Days Inn, 4635 Tomken Rd, Mississauga] where I am paying $75-ish per night.

Travel: I live in DC and my company paid for my travel and hence I took a flight from DC to Toronto and then a cab to the University of Toronto dorm.

Documents in Interview: I took all the documents that I could think of [Passport, I-797, previous I-20s, I-129, LCA, Employment letter on letter head, resume, college transcript, company tax returns, pay stubs, didnt had W-2s it was only for 6 months since I have been working, my bank statements for last 6 months]. Inspite of taking all these the Visa officer did not ask for a single document.

Link to comment

Accommodation: Right now in July the colleges are off and hence the University of Toronto gives away its dorm rooms for $30 or so per night. So, I stayed there which was 1.5km away from the consulate and hence I walked. After 3 days I moved to another motel near the airport [Days Inn, 4635 Tomken Rd, Mississauga] where I am paying $75-ish per night.

Travel: I live in DC and my company paid for my travel and hence I took a flight from DC to Toronto and then a cab to the University of Toronto dorm.

Documents in Interview: I took all the documents that I could think of [Passport, I-797, previous I-20s, I-129, LCA, Employment letter on letter head, resume, college transcript, company tax returns, pay stubs, didnt had W-2s it was only for 6 months since I have been working, my bank statements for last 6 months]. Inspite of taking all these the Visa officer did not ask for a single document.

For booking hotels in Toronto area check in travelocity or expedia. I extended my stay here 3 times in the last 10 days and have paid an average of $62/night mostly near Toronto Airport west. 3 star hotels with wify and gym.

Link to comment

Just got an email from loomis at 6:58pm today. But, they close at 7:00pm and Monday is a holiday. So, I will be picking it up on Tuesday.

Could you please tell me what time you finished your interview on Monday July 30th. I finished mine on monday July 30th at 12:40. I havent recieved the email from Loomis yet nor my personal profile shows the waybill number.

I hope to see an email from them tomorrow.

Link to comment

Could you please tell me what time you finished your interview on Monday July 30th. I finished mine on monday July 30th at 12:40. I havent recieved the email from Loomis yet nor my personal profile shows the waybill number.

I hope to see an email from them tomorrow.

I was interviewed at 3:30pm on Monday and mine was delayed due to PIMS issues. If you do not see you way bill number or did not get an email then you can try to see if your passport is at Loomis or not by visiting Loomis website and track using reference number. The reference number to put in loomis site would be same as Reference Id that you will find in your usvisa-info[dot]com website.

ceac.state.gov website has been down for a while, otherwise you could check the status using that as well. Let me know if you have any questions.

Link to comment

I was interviewed at 3:30pm on Monday and mine was delayed due to PIMS issues. If you do not see you way bill number or did not get an email then you can try to see if your passport is at Loomis or not by visiting Loomis website and track using reference number. The reference number to put in loomis site would be same as Reference Id that you will find in your usvisa-info[dot]com website.

ceac.state.gov website has been down for a while, otherwise you could check the status using that as well. Let me know if you have any questions.

Reference ID returns "No record found for this reference number". I called DHL and they say only waybill number can be used to track. There is a number (647.955.3736) at http://toronto.usconsulate.gov/contact.html which has an option to track the passport but it kept recording my date of birth as DD/MM/YYYY although I enter MM/DD/YYYY and it has other issues.

ceac.state.gov is not working since last week. Please let me know if there is anything else I can try?

Link to comment

Did you try emailing the consulate ? They replied to my email after 3 days, quoting my case is still pending verification from PIMS. Hoping to receive an email from Loomis soon.

My interview was on July 30th 9:30 AM at Vancouver consulate.

Reference ID returns "No record found for this reference number". I called DHL and they say only waybill number can be used to track. There is a number (647.955.3736) at http://toronto.uscon...ov/contact.html which has an option to track the passport but it kept recording my date of birth as DD/MM/YYYY although I enter MM/DD/YYYY and it has other issues.

ceac.state.gov is not working since last week. Please let me know if there is anything else I can try?

Link to comment

Never had any issues with Visa before. Both F1 and First H1B stamped at Hyderabad with no issues. I can't think of any reason why my visa is being delayed. I am FTE with proper paper work. Interview was pretty straight forward :

1) which company ?

2) how long have you been working ?

3) so are you in canada just for visa ?

I have cousins in Canada, so told her both for visa and to visit family.

I have been checking loomis website, cea ( which has been down for couple of days now) and usvisa-info.com all day along, no luck !

I was interviewed at Vancouver and selected Richmond Lommis branch. This whole PIMS issue is such mystery, hope i hear from consulate this week.

Link to comment

Did you try emailing the consulate ? They replied to my email after 3 days, quoting my case is still pending verification from PIMS. Hoping to receive an email from Loomis soon.

My interview was on July 30th 9:30 AM at Vancouver consulate.

I got the email from Loomis (laser.report@loomis-express.com) yesterday at 8:58 PM. I called Loomis today morning and picked my passport from Brampton branch. I wish you and torontodarling clear your PIMS issues and get your passports soon. Good luck!

Link to comment

Never had any issues with Visa before. Both F1 and First H1B stamped at Hyderabad with no issues. I can't think of any reason why my visa is being delayed. I am FTE with proper paper work. Interview was pretty straight forward :

1) which company ?

2) how long have you been working ?

3) so are you in canada just for visa ?

I have cousins in Canada, so told her both for visa and to visit family.

I have been checking loomis website, cea ( which has been down for couple of days now) and usvisa-info.com all day along, no luck !

I was interviewed at Vancouver and selected Richmond Lommis branch. This whole PIMS issue is such mystery, hope i hear from consulate this week.

So, after the interview did the officer tell you that they have to do PIMS?

Also, on a side note, as per the rules, usually when a consulate requests PIMS verification to KCC they have to reply it within 48 hours. Thats the rule but they dont always follow the rules as no one is on the top of KCC. Also, sometimes the Visa officer may not request the PIMS on the same day as your interview which can delay as well.

Link to comment

Archived

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