Transfer of visa while struck in 221g

[ardonman]

Hi,

I got my H1 approved on October 2017 and went for stamping on December 2017 in Chennai consulate. I was given 221g blue slip stating case is refused for additional Administrative processing. Post that there is no progress in my case, my employer was not contacted until now for any further queries and it’s been more than 5 months now. My employer is a product based small startup.

My questions are:

1. Can I transfer my visa to some other employer while 221g with my current employer is in progress?

2. If yes, post approval of new H1 is it mandatory to withdraw my 221g?

 

Thanks in advance.

[ashukla]

On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 10:04 PM, ardonman said:

Hi,

I got my H1 approved on October 2017 and went for stamping on December 2017 in Chennai consulate. I was given 221g blue slip stating case is refused for additional Administrative processing. Post that there is no progress in my case, my employer was not contacted until now for any further queries and it’s been more than 5 months now. My employer is a product based small startup.

My questions are:

1. Can I transfer my visa to some other employer while 221g with my current employer is in progress? Yes you can.

2. If yes, post approval of new H1 is it mandatory to withdraw my 221g? Depends - consulate may ask you to write an application to agree upon dissolving this petition which has 221G.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[pr_1686]

I was in similar situation until just last month

1. Yes, you can transfer the H1b to different employer while 221g is in progress

2. You can send email to usTraveldocs helpdesk asking how to proceed. In my case they asked me to send them email confirming that I would like to close the current visa stamping application that is pending 221g and I understand that it can not be reopened once it's close.

Make sure you mention that you are asking for closing of vista stamping application and not talking about withdrawing h1b petition. These are two different things. In this case, closing the current pending visa stamping process is sufficient.