H1B Stamping in India - Dropbox in Kochi (Cochin), Kerala


xfitter

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Just thought of sharing the experience. This is my wife's H1 stamping. 7th year extension based on approved I140 in EB3. She is a direct employee, small company of about 30 employees. She was eligible for dropbox, as all conditions were satisfied. 

 

Went to Team Stanley office at 10am on Jul 31 with a ton of documents (resume, paystubs, bank account statement for one year, visa fee payment receipt, attorney's packet that included I-129, LCA, I140 approval etc). They asked for and accepted only few documents:

1. Passport original (all old and current)

2. 2 Passport size photos

3. Copy of I797A extension

4. Copy of I 797A previous (based on which previous visa was stamped)

5. DS160 Confirmation Page

6. Dropbox confirmation page

 

Since I had seen in previous posts in this forum to ask them to take all documents, I checked with them multiple times to see if they would take additional documentation. They said No and that they have been handling this for a while now. I requested them to take atleast attorney's packet - they said No. I asked "Paystubs?" - No. "Just the latest paystub?" - No. They initially rejected the passport photos saying an ear is not visible. My wife had to come to Kochi for new photographs. There was a studio immediately next to Kochi Team Stanley office, and they provided required photographs in half an hour. The photographs were not super expensive.

 

Back to Stanley office. They are closed 1-2pm for lunch and will not accept any documents during lunch break. Asked to fill in an acknowledgement form that mentioned the documents they took from us. Somewhere during the process, we mentioned we wanted to pick the passport from Team Stanley office, but there was an option to check if they can courier it to your PIN code. It was available for our PIN code, so we paid 300Rs and asked them to courier it to home address.

 

Checked passport tracking (PT) & visa tracking (VT).

Aug 1 -  PT = passport is being delivered to post. VT - cannot find your case.

Aug 2 - PT = passport is being delivered to post. VT - Administrative processing. Received case on Aug 2.

Aug 3 & 4 - Status Quo

Aug 5 evening = PT=Forgot the exact status, somethng different thatn "passport is being delivered to post", VT=Issued

Aug 7 morning = PT = Out for delivery

 

Haven't received passport yet, but hopefully it will be here this week or next. Anxious to see if visa is for full 3 years.

 

Team Stanley staff was very friendly. The office was not super busy, although they handle processes for other European countries besides US. They mentioned they close at 4pm and are strict about it.

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