H1 B VISA stamping(first time H1 B) experience - Kingston, Jamaica

[naveen5]

Guys,

 

Would like to share my H1 B Stamping experience in Kingston, Jamaica.

 

My Info:  Change of status from L1 B(4+years, 2 times VISA stamping in India)  to H1 B(1 year). First time H1 B stamping.

 

Why I selected Jamaica:  As Canada Visitor Visa processing is taking more than 30 days to process & I need to travel to India soon, I opted for US embassy in Jamaica.

 

Flights : Tickets are costlier, atleast for me as I planned this travel in 11nth hour. From California to Kingston it costed me little over $1000.

 

Jamaica Visitor Visa: Indian citizens do not need Visitor visa(for travel duration of 1 month). Fly to Kingston, go thru immigration…..and get permit for a month. Just be frank with Immigration offices. It’s okay to say that you are here to visit US embassy. Needed documents @ airport:  VISA appointment confirmation & Return ticket to United States.

 

Travel from Airport:  Once you are out of airport, immediately at left-hand side you will see currency exchange office. It’s a rip-off. Hotels/Banks/ATM’s are best place to exchange currency.  I exchanged $1 = $84 Jamaican dollars @ airport Vs $1 = $99 Jamaican dollars @ my hotel.

                       There is pre-paid taxi booth just across, just mention the hotel…mostly to Jamaica Uptown(10 mins drive to Embassy) they will charge you $30 US dollars.

 

Hotel: Jamaican hotels are costly , minimum I saw when searching for hotels is $100/night (The Liguanea Club – where lot of Desis stay).  If you have friends to share, you are lucky.

 

Food: You will find lot of sea food, Mexican/American Cuisines. No issues. Little bit costlier if you go to restaurants.  If you stay uptown, visit “chris gayle triple century sports bar”.

 

US Embassy: Please search for US embassy, Kingston in youtube. They have uploaded a video about end to end process. It’s same as mentioned. Documents asked @ entrance:

1)      Appointment confirmation page (they have their own sheet with list of candidates appearing for interview, who are coming. So they will search your name & cross it.)

2)      DS 160 Confirmation page

3)      Passport(original)

4)      Passport photo

5)      Original Approved H1 B petition.

 

Security: Normal scan like in airports.

 

FingerPrints/Photo: As usual at start token will be given and we will be called to given finger prints. Here I screwed-up a little. I took my passport photo with glasses ON(Person at walgreens told me to remove my glasses, but I said not required… with only confidence that my last 2 VISA stamping photos has glasses….But I am WRONG). So, she asked me to re-take photo and come back & she will hold by appointment as it is.

Luckily, there are people outside embassy waiting for people like me to cash-in or I should say life-savers. They are ready with cameras waiting on foot-path opposite to embassy. Lot of people started calling me. There is fight between two ladies ;) that who has to take my photo, to calm them & get my work done, I paid $5 dollars to other lady to leave me. So, lady who acquired my photorights ;) took me to bar(opp to embassy) which is very similar to wine shop in villages. I went inside…she pulled white curtain(with lot of black marks on it) ….photo…print…$5….5 minutes.

Back to embassy & showed my new photo….accepted, now waiting in Q for final interview.

 

Final Interview: Handed over Passport(my original H1 B petition is pinned to it. Done by security guard)/DS 160 confirmation page(photo is pinned to it).

1)      Who do you work for?

2)      From how long you are working for them?

That’s it, I am done.  He gave me red tag, mentioning date & time to pick my passport at same place.  Felt Lucky & Happy….

(My employment info: I am full-time employee small company doing in-house project with employee strength of 50+ )

 

Passport Pick-up: I did my interview on Wednesday & I was asked to pick my passport on Friday.

 

[USAVIS]

Congrats. Good post

[rrm85]

Thanks for sharing, its really helpful. I have interview on Dec9th. Looking for flights tickets, keeping in mind the weather in mid-east region for the month of Dec.

[sendilvera]

thanks for sharing the info .... Nice one .. :) ...

[Sandy3596]

Congrats man

 

thanks for sharing indetail experience. 

[flyersai21]

Congratulation Naveen...Do u know anyone hardtime facing the interview or is it easyfor everyone?

[amithi]

Naveen,  Congrats and Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thank You.

[kp555]

Congrats, nice post. Thanks !!

[ajaysharma]

Your post almost tempted me to fly to Jamaica and get my stamping done. Unfortunately I'm already deep into the process of going to Canada instead :)

[chaitupmk]

Congrats and thanks for sharing you experience in detail.

[naveen5]

Your post almost tempted me to fly to Jamaica and get my stamping done. Unfortunately I'm already deep into the process of going to Canada instead :)

:) ATB

[naveen5]

Congratulation Naveen...Do u know anyone hardtime facing the interview or is it easyfor everyone?

I heard couple of interviews. For OPT to H1(this year), below are questions:

 

1) Who is your employer?

2) School attended?

3) Why did you change school in between?

4) Seems like your employer is changed but client is same....

5) Why you are receiving more money than mentioned in offer.....

[naveen5]

Thanks guys :)

[goboys]

Naveen5... congratulations.. what documents did you take (interested because you are working for a smaller company in-house projects)

[vrams86@gmail.com]

Thanks bro.

[rrm85]

Naveen,

Did they ask anything at port of entry in US ?

[Guest]

Congrats Naveen. I hope you can advise me on this situation.

 

I got my H1 stamping in Vancouver, Canada in August. So, I am all set.

My wife came to US on H4 and she converted to H1 here. Never left US. Can she go to Kingston for H1 stamping?

 

If I want to accompany here to Kingston, as you mentioned both of us don't need any visa to Kingston, correct?

 

Also, as ur interview was successful on wednesday, when did you get you passport?

Just wanted to know as it would help in booking return ticket.

 

Thanks a lot...

Thanks guys :)

[maverickp]

My wife came to US on H4 and she converted to H1 here. Never left US. Can she go to Kingston for H1 stamping?

 

If your wife has a passport issued by a commonwealth country like India, she can come to Jamaica. I came here 2 days ago on an Indian passport, and was given a 30 day visa upon arrival. That's pretty much the standard for people from India, from what I know.

 

If I want to accompany here to Kingston, as you mentioned both of us don't need any visa to Kingston, correct?

 

No, you don't, as long as you have Indian/Paki passports. But, you both do need flight tickets out of Jamaica, either to the US, Canada, or some third country. If you don't have return flight tickets, they will make you buy them during immigration check at Kingston Airport.

[nvedia]

Congrats Naveen. I hope you can advise me on this situation.

 

I got my H1 stamping in Vancouver, Canada in August. So, I am all set.

My wife came to US on H4 and she converted to H1 here. Never left US. Can she go to Kingston for H1 stamping?

 

Thanks a lot...

 

Hi TPK6

Did your wife get her first stamping done in Jamaica?

[asksri]

Hi TPK6

Did your wife get her first stamping done in Jamaica?

 

Guys,

 

Would like to share my H1 B Stamping experience in Kingston, Jamaica.

 

My Info:  Change of status from L1 B(4+years, 2 times VISA stamping in India)  to H1 B(1 year). First time H1 B stamping.

 

Why I selected Jamaica:  As Canada Visitor Visa processing is taking more than 30 days to process & I need to travel to India soon, I opted for US embassy in Jamaica.

 

Flights : Tickets are costlier, atleast for me as I planned this travel in 11nth hour. From California to Kingston it costed me little over $1000.

 

Jamaica Visitor Visa: Indian citizens do not need Visitor visa(for travel duration of 1 month). Fly to Kingston, go thru immigration…..and get permit for a month. Just be frank with Immigration offices. It’s okay to say that you are here to visit US embassy. Needed documents @ airport:  VISA appointment confirmation & Return ticket to United States.

 

Travel from Airport:  Once you are out of airport, immediately at left-hand side you will see currency exchange office. It’s a rip-off. Hotels/Banks/ATM’s are best place to exchange currency.  I exchanged $1 = $84 Jamaican dollars @ airport Vs $1 = $99 Jamaican dollars @ my hotel.

                       There is pre-paid taxi booth just across, just mention the hotel…mostly to Jamaica Uptown(10 mins drive to Embassy) they will charge you $30 US dollars.

 

Hotel: Jamaican hotels are costly , minimum I saw when searching for hotels is $100/night (The Liguanea Club – where lot of Desis stay).  If you have friends to share, you are lucky.

 

Food: You will find lot of sea food, Mexican/American Cuisines. No issues. Little bit costlier if you go to restaurants.  If you stay uptown, visit “chris gayle triple century sports bar”.

 

US Embassy: Please search for US embassy, Kingston in youtube. They have uploaded a video about end to end process. It’s same as mentioned. Documents asked @ entrance:

1)      Appointment confirmation page (they have their own sheet with list of candidates appearing for interview, who are coming. So they will search your name & cross it.)

2)      DS 160 Confirmation page

3)      Passport(original)

4)      Passport photo

5)      Original Approved H1 B petition.

 

Security: Normal scan like in airports.

 

FingerPrints/Photo: As usual at start token will be given and we will be called to given finger prints. Here I screwed-up a little. I took my passport photo with glasses ON(Person at walgreens told me to remove my glasses, but I said not required… with only confidence that my last 2 VISA stamping photos has glasses….But I am WRONG). So, she asked me to re-take photo and come back & she will hold by appointment as it is.

Luckily, there are people outside embassy waiting for people like me to cash-in or I should say life-savers. They are ready with cameras waiting on foot-path opposite to embassy. Lot of people started calling me. There is fight between two ladies ;) that who has to take my photo, to calm them & get my work done, I paid $5 dollars to other lady to leave me. So, lady who acquired my photorights ;) took me to bar(opp to embassy) which is very similar to wine shop in villages. I went inside…she pulled white curtain(with lot of black marks on it) ….photo…print…$5….5 minutes.

Back to embassy & showed my new photo….accepted, now waiting in Q for final interview.

 

Final Interview: Handed over Passport(my original H1 B petition is pinned to it. Done by security guard)/DS 160 confirmation page(photo is pinned to it).

1)      Who do you work for?

2)      From how long you are working for them?

That’s it, I am done.  He gave me red tag, mentioning date & time to pick my passport at same place.  Felt Lucky & Happy….

(My employment info: I am full-time employee small company doing in-house project with employee strength of 50+ )

 

Passport Pick-up: I did my interview on Wednesday & I was asked to pick my passport on Friday.

Hi Naveen,

I need to attend H1B visa stamping, Does Jamaica US consulate is accepting new application currently? I heard they closed from Nov-2014 to Dec-2014.

Is that correct?

 

Thanks

Sr

[dream16]

Asksri: there are no dates available and also policy changed.