Ottawa Blue 221G Exp And Wait Time.....

[DreamszAlone]

Hi All,

It has been a helpful experience on this forum where people discuss few things which in turn helps us out.

My exp is as follows I hope it helps to somebody else.

I had a H1b Visa stamping interivew on Sept 28 2012 this was my 3rd extension and 2nd stamping first stamping was done in Canada only. As I had done my h1 extension on my current client I didnt had to file a amendment and etc, client was helpful in providing me the Client letter and so did the vendor.

Exp starts now, went to the interview around 10:00 AM went to the window and I had a interview with white skiny guy and all he asked was are you EVC and I was shocked to hear that and I just shook my head (Indian Style) and then he asked, do you have all the letters I said yes and gave it to him adn then later on he asked pay stubs I gave that also, and thats it got slapped with blue 221g and then him how much time I am looking here, all he said was 2weeks to several weeks so I asked him again smiling what your system says and he smiled, then I said ok I will pick the 2nd option(Several Weeks) and again he smiled and said we will let you know, so technically I just spent 2-5 mins on the window smiling half the time :-).

After I came out of the embassy I knew I will have to wait as I was a Canadian PR I picked up a job very next day and luckily I got the same paying job, big depression when I thought about my family becuase I left them in US, emailed the embassy 3-4 times explaining them my situation but all the emails went on deaf ears....

Finally I requested my client to follow up after 6-7 weeks of wait times and as soon as they emailed I got a response within an hr asking to come down to the embassy any Tuesday or Thursday. So luckily I got the email on Wednesday(11/14/2012) so I went to the embassy on Thursday and was surprise to see people been rejected and returned back with their passport and then they called me and as I was already working in Canada I was very kool and would have been more happy if they rejected me but anyways walked up to the counter and he said these are your original documents and said this is the instructions to follow for your passport. So I asked so my visa is approved and seems like he seeing so many Indian gesture of shaking head for YES he also shook his head and said ahan.

So while I was waiting I realise how tough it is how much patience this guys test of h1b candidates why they dont deny upfront and why so much of wait, then when I was taking my documents I saw a report attached to many passport which said (FPU Report) which means Fraud Prevention Unit Report so I was like ohh ok make sense now. So it all depends on our luck that FPU can be done in 1-2 weeks or could take Several weeks.

I would strongly recommend that only come ot Ottawa if you really can get some help from your client if things go wrong, such as intimate them that it could 2-3 weeks for visa stamping and then obiviously you can increase another 2-3 weeks once you come here if you get 221g, always have a client letter(Mandatory) or atleast an email from client saying they dont issue a client letter. But tell your client he would still recieve email with those magic 8 Questions so it would be for you all to give those 8 questions answers up front to him or make him understand these are the questions answers and you just need to type in the same way if they(Embassy) email these questions, becuase in my case my client got nervous when he saw the DOS email but after talking to his attorney for 1whole week they did replied back.

You can also make arrangement with your client for work from home option.

Always come with a backup plan becuase Canada is too expensive staying in a hotel even in sharing would cost you easily $50 a day plus food so better come with 3weeks wait time and if it crosses 3 weeks then better to head home country bcoz the time you would spend here in Canada scratching your head wasting money would compensate the same time in India..

Now I got the visa but I am sick of this H1b, where the end person(we) get abused employer eats money vendor eats money and top of that you get a big hit by your family health insurance price.....And after all that embassy screws you as well. And then you gotta move depending on your contract. And till few years back we never needed Client letters now who knows after few years what else they would need from us.

All the persons who is making money on us is just watching us from the Balcony seat and giving condolences dont worry it will be fine, but no nothing is fine.

H1b is good for people who are FTE but for EVC I guess after 7years of work and after joining as a FTE recently in Canada I realised EVC sucks...But again every individual has their own way of thinking....

So bottom line avoid Toronto and then Ottawa and only head to these 2 consulates if you have CLIENT Letter, and proper LCA and amendment done, else dont bother to come here, all you are doing by coming here is welcoming loads of tension.

Just FYI :- People scared you that 1 chinese guy in Ottawa issues lot of 221g yes it is true but he is the most quickest to clear those 221g so it is good to go to him because you will get your issues resolved within 2 weeks if it crosses 2-4weeks with that Chinese guy then he got you in you are done.

[NewH1-B]

Thank you Dreamz for a brief overview of your interview and suggestions. I have my interview scheduled at Toronto in Jan 2013 . I know Ottawa is not a good point to those people who are on EVC . But now i want to know do you or your friends have any personal experience from Toronto consulate . Because i just don't want to go to such location and put my self in trouble. So please suggest.

[rahul412]

Now I got the visa but I am sick of this H1b, where the end person(we) get abused employer eats money vendor eats money and top of that you get a big hit by your family health insurance price.....And after all that embassy screws you as well. And then you gotta move depending on your contract. And till few years back we never needed Client letters now who knows after few years what else they would need from us.

All the persons who is making money on us is just watching us from the Balcony seat and giving condolences dont worry it will be fine, but no nothing is fine.

100% agree. The reason why embassy screws you is bcos you did everything according to law.

Just FYI :- People scared you that 1 chinese guy in Ottawa issues lot of 221g yes it is true but he is the most quickest to clear those 221g so it is good to go to him because you will get your issues resolved within 2 weeks if it crosses 2-4weeks with that Chinese guy then he got you in you are done.

No you are wrong. Once the interview has been done, FPU team will take care of the remaining things. That's why VO doesn't give you exact time. Sad part here is that, your employer pays some amount as FPU fee while filing your H1 which means you feed them and in return they screw you up.

[DreamszAlone]

Toronto is a bigggggggg no go and then followed by Ottawa.

If you have all the client letter and all stuff then I would recommend Ottawa with a hitch and if possible why dont you try for Vancover they are easy going as far as I know.

If its not urgent wait till you get the dates from Vancover and as they are issuing very less 221g I have seen people getting there visas done in 2-3 weeks time.

[kiran123@]

Hi Dreamz, How is the stamping in Ottawa for FTE. I have been working as a FTE from 3 months with big company. This month I have a stamping except previous consulting company ran payroll in different state which is different from LCA. He did it for 4 months. Will there be any problem?