Successful H1 and H4 Visa Stamping Experience from Toronto, Canada

[torontoh1bstamping]

Hi Everyone,

I want to post my successful experience for H1 and H4 visa stamping in Toronto, Canada. Given below are my details to begin.

Nationality: Indian (Both wife and I)

Previous H1 Stamping: Was done from Toronto, Canada as well.

Education: Possesses M.S. from United States

Status of Green Card Filing: Approved I-140

Employment Type: Direct Employee for a Product Development Company

The interview lasted for about a minute. Here is my interview coversation:

VO: Is this your 1st H1-B stamping?

Me: No, I changed company and here to get stamping for new company.

VO: When did you start working for new company?

Me: Answered.

VO: Why did you change company?

Me: Answered.

VO: Have you filed for Green Card?

Me: Yes

VO: (Looking at my wife) What is your status?

Wife: H4

VO: Where do you work?

Wife: I don’t work.

VO: (Looking at me) You have Masters?

Me: Yes, from such and such place in U.S.

VO: Your visas have been approved. Here is a paper on how you can track delivery of your passports.

Me: Will we get passports in next 2-3 days?

VO: I suggest you follow the instructions given on paper.

I quickly looked at the white sheet which had very generic verbiage on tracking of passports. The thing that attracted my attention was, extract from the paper said, “Most approved visas are printed within 7 business days from appointement. We suggest you to start tracking the usvisainfo site 3 business days after your date of appointment.”

This sort of worried me but I didn’t ask anything further as VO would only point me to the paper. We thanked VO and left from consulate.

Later that morning I received call from consulate, “We need clarification on such and such thing you have provided on DS-160.” I answered the question and the person on the line said, “That’s fine then. Thanks.”

After that we didn’t receive any call or email from consulate.

As I didn’t see any email or update on our usvisainfo account till late 3rd day afternoon, I called the number which was provided on white sheet. The lady said, “It’s too early to have any update. You should start checking the site only on 5th day (basically after 3 business days excluding date of appointment).”

Later that evening around 8:00 p.m. we received email from the courier facility that passports have been picked up from consulate and are not available for pick up yet. The email had DHL Waybill Number and a link where you can progress of passport delivery to your desired DHL location.

Checked the link next day morning (4th Day) it said the passports had been delivered to chosen DHL Location and status is ‘Undeliverable’. ‘Undeliverable’ status basically means the passports can now be picked up from DHL location.

Went to DHL location later that morning showed the print-outs for DHL Waybill email for both of us. Picked up passports and reached U.S. late evening same day.

Few Observations about U.S. Consulate in Toronto:

1. U.S. Consulate here is no longer explicitly saying that once approved, you will get your passports on such and such day. The white sheet as I indicated above is vague. So even presuming that you were to get approved, it will be better for you to plan for at least a work week’s worth of time for your stay in Toronto. You may book hotel for few days but should be prepared to extend it.

2. Even after the visa is approved, it seems there is some type of scrutiny and verification happens at this consulate. As I said above, I received call later that morning seeking verification on one of the entries in DS-160 even though we were approved by VO.

3. It is better to prepare for the worst and then hope for the best. So think of all scenarios before hand and only if you can chalk out solutions to your satisfaction, book the visa appointment in Canada.

4. We never did get the update on our login in usvisainfo account. So it is better to checks emails as well as usvisainfo account.

5. It’s good to keep your phone handy to receive calls as consulate may call you for any clarification.

I hope my experience help members here. I wish eveyone the very best in their immigration journey.

[praveeninavolu]

Hi

 

Firstly congratulation! 

 

My be you know answer to my case, I am also in the same situation like yours, 1-140 approves and filles H1 extension  which got approved recently. Now when you enter details for scheduling visa interview, you might remember that the first question was Visa type with 2 options (Immigration or NonImmigration) . Which one to choose?  Some forums I see to choose Immigration as 1-140 is approved some say NonImmigration.  please share your experience. 

[hsgandhi]

Do you need a 2 separate appointments for H1B and H4?