passport expiring in June 2013

[vicky112]

passport expiring in June 2013 and current H1b is expiring on oct 2012.

i am getting married in this august. so my future wife needs to go to h4 stamping. i dont think its a good idea to go for stamping with just 2 months left on h1b. so i have to apply for h1b extension before that.

now the issue is, i have 2 more years left on 6 years h1b quota. i.e till 2014 oct.

so if i apply now for h1b extension, will get 2 years extension or since my passport expires in june 2013, will i get till june 2013.

i dont have sufficient time to renew paspport and then apply for extension.

i cant apply for PP renewal before june 20th 2012(1yr before expiry). and if i apply it on that day, i may get my new PP in july. i wont have enough time to apply for extension b4 going to india.

i dont think my company will be willing to apply it twice, once this year and once next year

please advice

[SameerH1Bworker]

It seems your passport expiry is 20th June 2013. So, you can apply for fast processing of passport on 21st June 2012 & you will get it back in 4 business days - provided you overnight it & attached self addressed overnight envelope. Indian consulate needs only 2 business days to issue new passport in fast processing. So, definitely before July 1st you should receive it.

Now, file for extension in PP, if your company is not ready to pay for PP fees then I would suggest you pay, so, you dnt have to worry about visa validity as well.

[ronk]

Firstly, I am not sure if your H1B approval depends on your PP validity. My PP expired in Nov2011 and I had my H1b approved until march2012. So both are exclusive events.

I have seen my friend applying for Passport at Indian consulate at D.C and it took 4 crazy months as local passport office messed up with some paper work. I know that there are tons of people wandering without the valid passport due to the same issue. So do not count on getting your PP in one month. It "may" take a while if you run out of luck.

When your prime concern is going to India with a long valid H1B, better start working on your H1B extension right away. Apply for Premium Processing . Think that you are spending 1225 dollars(for premium processing) to buy some peace of mind.

As far as I know you need to have alteast 6 months of passport validity to get the H1B stamped. I might be wrong but double check on that rule. So if you go for stamping in Aug'12, you will sure have around 10 months which shouldn't be a problem.

[wiweq]

"So, you can apply for fast processing of passport on 21st June 2012 & you will get it back in 4 business days"

Tatkal passport service only for emergecy cases like death, accident etc. Below is from this link:

"You can get your passport on the same day in case of emergency (serious illness or death in the family in India) by paying additional Tatkal fees of US$ 150/-. This emergency should be supported by the requisite documents (like fax/email about hospitalization/death certificate or communication from the family/hospital). Please also note that in case of Tatkal services and in which references are required, passport will be issued for one year validity only."