Relocation Amendment approval for visa stamping

[Biswajit]

Hi,

I have H1B visa stamping interview setup on 29th Dec 2016 in Delhi. I had with me all required documents especially my approved H1b extension (until Aug 2017), Receipt of H1B relocation amendment notice and new DS-160. I was recently informed by my company that US consulates in India are now demanding an 'approved'  H1B relocation amendment notice and not just submitted ones. Now with 1 week left for my travel I am being asked to cancel my trip and submit in premium and then re-schedule. Considering the backlogs I am not sure how long its going to take for scheduling the interview after premium approval. I googled for this in US consulates as well as USCIS but didn't find any such information. Can you please confirm if this is a directive that has come out officially or is it one of case that has prompted my Employer to notify me of this possibility. This is so much of inconvenience as there are lot of expenses tied to my travel and I have already cancelled my trip once. Below is snapshot of email I received from my employer.

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Dear Associate,

 

We see that you have your US visa appointments scheduled in the near future.

 

The initial guidelines from the USCIS recommended an amendment filing and having the receipt notice in place to apply for the visa stamping, based on which your visa appointments were scheduled.

 

However, as per the recent update from the US Consulates in India, an Approved Amendment petition is required for the visa stamping. Only after stamping is completed, you can travel.

 

We would recommend you to cancel your current appointment, reach out to your amendment filing case manager and have your amendment filing upgraded to premium (which would cost $1225 to your project). On approval of the amendment, get the visa stamping appointment scheduled.

 

It is an inadvertent change in the USCIS guidelines and we will have to conform to the requirements. Please plan your travel accordingly.

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[shekar11#]

Apply in premium. Go to India and if the amendment is approved before your stamping date you can get the copy from lawyer and take that for interview (in premium cases a copy is emailed before original is sent). Sometimes premium gets approved in 2 or 3 business days. If not you can explain the VO about your situation. You should be good. Don't forget to post your interview experience. Also try to see if any dates are available in Jan. That way you can be 100% sure. You can get stamped anywhere in India.