Steps for H1B visa stamping at Mumbai consulate

[WillBounceBack]

Hello Gurus/Ron,
I am planning for H1B visa stamping at Mumbai consulate in July this year. I am not aware of the current extension process. I will appreciate if anybody can share his/her knowledge on the same.

FYI: I have got my first H1B extension for the next 3 years & i am with the same company all this period.

As far as my information goes, i will first have to get HDFC receipt by asking somebody in India to fill the visa fees on my behalf. and then I have to fill DS156 & DS157 electronically?

Kindly share your knowledge, thoughts and advices.

Thanks in advance.

[rayofhope]

This link should help. http://mumbai.usconsulate.gov/h1b_and_l1_visas.html

[Jim Gotcher]

One more thing to keep in mind is that you will now need to fill out a DS-160 instead of the DS 156/157. I would also suggest that you carry two copies of your employment verification letter because you will need one for the POE as well and if they take it at the interview, you may be out of luck. Also, bring a copy of your petition in case USCIS forgot to send a copy to PIMS.


We are seeing a few instances where they are issuing 221(g) requests and in those instances, it is hard to say what triggers it. We have heard that the consulates in India are trying to create company profiles which are created through the evidence gathered via these 221(g)s. There are other instances where the job required an export control license and that is a trigger as well.

One thing to keep in mind- if you are a consultant, you need to be clear on your resume and when you speak to an officer that you work for PETITIONER and work at END-CLIENT. A lot of times we see issues arise when a person says "I work for END-CLIENT" instead of "I work for PETITIONER at END-CLIENT." This can lead to the officer looking at your i797 approval notice and seeing that it is for a different company and assuming that you were working out of status. Resumes are also a place where an officer can become confused because consultants sometimes make their resumes look like they actually worked for the end-client when they were working on a project for the end-client through their petitioner.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[WillBounceBack]

One more thing to keep in mind is that you will now need to fill out a DS-160 instead of the DS 156/157. I would also suggest that you carry two copies of your employment verification letter because you will need one for the POE as well and if they take it at the interview, you may be out of luck. Also, bring a copy of your petition in case USCIS forgot to send a copy to PIMS.


We are seeing a few instances where they are issuing 221(g) requests and in those instances, it is hard to say what triggers it. We have heard that the consulates in India are trying to create company profiles which are created through the evidence gathered via these 221(g)s. There are other instances where the job required an export control license and that is a trigger as well.

One thing to keep in mind- if you are a consultant, you need to be clear on your resume and when you speak to an officer that you work for PETITIONER and work at END-CLIENT. A lot of times we see issues arise when a person says "I work for END-CLIENT" instead of "I work for PETITIONER at END-CLIENT." This can lead to the officer looking at your i797 approval notice and seeing that it is for a different company and assuming that you were working out of status. Resumes are also a place where an officer can become confused because consultants sometimes make their resumes look like they actually worked for the end-client when they were working on a project for the end-client through their petitioner.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Thanks Jim! BTW when does this PIMS thing come into play? Do I have to make sure that my records are there on the PIMS database prior to my interview at the Mumbai consulate?If yes, then how to go about it?
Or I have nothing to do with it and USCIS will take care of it?
Thanks in advance! I highly appreciate your help in this matter.

[WillBounceBack]

Thanks Ray!

[Jim Gotcher]

You may hear things about contacting PIMS before your trip, but we have yet to see this actually work. There is a PIMS email floating around the internet, but I am sure that they are going to delete that account if they haven't already because it made its way to the internet. The USCIS is required to take the consular copy that is included in the original filing and send it to KCC so that they can keep a copy of it for the PIMS system. Sometimes, petitioner's won't include that copy and it is never sent and other times, the USCIS is lazy and they won't send the copy over.

If you run into a PIMS issue and they are not satisfied with the copy your brought, they will contact USCIS archives and have them pull a copy and send it over. This will cause a delay as you are depending on multiple levels of bureaucracy to get this done. Let's hope that it is waiting there for you!

regards
Jim