I have collected the H1 B visa experiences published in this blog by searching various websites and by spending lot of time. Since I didn’t find some of their mail id’s there I couldn’t take permission from all the people whose H1b visa experiences I have posted here in this blog. Anyhow because their intention was also to share their experience with others so i had posted without their permission, but i took acceptance from few of them. I thought of posting both success and failure experiences of H1B visa stamping. If you would like to share your experience too, please send it to satyadon@gmail.com.
The Web H1bVisaExp.blogspot.com

Sunday, December 2, 2007

First time stamping in Vancouver July 17th

hey guys,
I just got back from my first time stamping in Vancouver this Tuesday.
Just like everybody, I was pretty stressed and brought a whole "suitcase" of documents.
Everything went well and I got my visa the next day.

As far as Scotiabank, there's one very close to the consulate and it opens at 9 AM. It's on Burrard and Pender so if you walk east on Pender you will run into it. So no worries about the bank. I also understood that if you are late to your appointment, they still let you in. So you can still go to the bank quickly, pay and return.

Once again, DON'T bring any electronics with you. You know what I'm talking about. The guards are pretty strict. If you do want to bring stuff with you, then leave it at the Italian food place right across the street. They will store it for you for $5 for unlimited time.
As you enter the building, the guard will ask for your apointment letter and cross your name out on his list.

Then you go and get all your documents ready. Initially, they only want the: I-797, 1 photo, DS 156 and DS-157, employment letter, passport, bank receipts. I think that's all. You get a number and then your "bundle" of documents with a number on it, will be given to the VOs.
At that moment everybody goes upstairs and waits. It's a very small room, and it makes it worse when there are little children, etc.

Then you wait until your number is called. That day there were 2 men, so 2 windows only. Most interviews lasted 5 min. The first thing you do is fingerprinting, then I think the officer enters your name in the database to check. Then the interview starts. In my case the VO didn't ask many questions:

Why am I in Vancouver?
When do I go back to US?
What position do I work in?
What are my duties?
Where did I get my degrees?

I brought A LOT of documents with me and the only thing he asked for is my old passport that had my student visas in it. My case is F1-OPT-F1-OPT-H1B.
When I told him that I won't be going back to US until October, he said that he couldn't issue a visa yet, because it was too early. Then I explained that I understood that we can do that as long as it's 90 days before Oct. He checked on that and then agreed but said that I shouldn't go back before October.

As far as pick up time, some people were told to come the next day, some the day after next. He said it all depends on the computer, because it prints out the visas. Most everybody came the next day and picked up the visas.

That's about it. If you guys have ANY questions, let me know and I'll gladly answer.

New 2 U.S group - Share your experiences

Google Groups
Subscribe to New 2 US
Email:
Visit this group

All Posts