I had to go to India on emergency basis on Sep 1st 07. I did not had valid stamped visa (Expired in 2004), but had H1B 3 years approval notice with me at the time of travel which was starting from end of Nov 2007 to Nov 2010. I did not travel to India for almost 6 years. I was getting 1 year extensions all these years and finally this time I got 3 years extension after my I-140 got approved. 1st think I did after landing in India was to pay the HDFC receipt and wait for 2 days to get the receipt activated. Once the receipts were activated after 2 days wait, I tried to book appointment in Chennai and surprised to see that there were no dated untill November 07.
I tried at Kolkota and there were appointment with in 2 days that too non emergency appointment. I took the appointment for myself(H1) and for my wife(H4). We booked the flight tickets and went to Kolkota 1 day before the appointment date. The travel time from Airport to the hotel was around 1 hour 30 mins. We stayed at Hotel Neeranand. This one is 30 mins drive from the consulate. On the day of the appointment we went to consulate early in the morning. Since our appointment was at 2:30PM in the afternoon, they did not allowed us to go inside untill 12:00PM. At 12:20PM there were only 10 people in the line. We went inside the consulate, after passing thru security check. Once inside the consulate they asked us to put the documents in the order and present them at the counter. That guy (Indian) asked bunch of questions, like why I came to India, how long I will stay etc. I had with me my daughters US passport. He asked me why my daughter did not come to consulate etc. I had to explain to him that she stayed with her grand parents. He asked to write Indian and US address on the forms. He asked to write full names of the colleges on the forms etc. He asked to write the name in our native language (in Telugu for us). We make corrections to the form using pen. Once the corrections were made, we were asked to sit. There were only 2 counters for the visa interview. After 10 mins of wait, they called our names. We went and greated the lady inside the counter. She asked, what I do, and what my company do. She looked at the marriage certificate and said, that she believes that we were married laughingly. She asked me if I had the latest pay stub and when I told her it is at the back of the folder she is looking. Without even looking at it, she told, to collect my passport after 4PM at VFS center and gave me the address where to collect. I asked her what will be the start date on my Visa and explained since my extension does not start untill Nov 2007, I showed her my 1 year extension which was valid from Nov 2006 to Nov 2007. She told me she will give me Visa from today to Nov 2010.
We were out of the consulate with in 1 hour or so. We decided not to collect the passport on the same day, as our return flight was at 7:00PM the same day and the travel time from COnsulate to the airport is around 1 hour 30 mins. Also heard that Kolkota is famous for traffic jams especially in the evenings. Next day afternoon, the passports were delivered to our house address thru courier service. Check the visa and all the information were correct. It has an annotation explaning that the visa stamping includes 2 approval forms and its petition numbers etc. in it. I was totally relieved after I got my passport with visa stamped in my hands. Whole process took 4 days after I landed in India.
If you had any questions feel free to post it here and I will try to reply.
Thanks,
Sri
I tried at Kolkota and there were appointment with in 2 days that too non emergency appointment. I took the appointment for myself(H1) and for my wife(H4). We booked the flight tickets and went to Kolkota 1 day before the appointment date. The travel time from Airport to the hotel was around 1 hour 30 mins. We stayed at Hotel Neeranand. This one is 30 mins drive from the consulate. On the day of the appointment we went to consulate early in the morning. Since our appointment was at 2:30PM in the afternoon, they did not allowed us to go inside untill 12:00PM. At 12:20PM there were only 10 people in the line. We went inside the consulate, after passing thru security check. Once inside the consulate they asked us to put the documents in the order and present them at the counter. That guy (Indian) asked bunch of questions, like why I came to India, how long I will stay etc. I had with me my daughters US passport. He asked me why my daughter did not come to consulate etc. I had to explain to him that she stayed with her grand parents. He asked to write Indian and US address on the forms. He asked to write full names of the colleges on the forms etc. He asked to write the name in our native language (in Telugu for us). We make corrections to the form using pen. Once the corrections were made, we were asked to sit. There were only 2 counters for the visa interview. After 10 mins of wait, they called our names. We went and greated the lady inside the counter. She asked, what I do, and what my company do. She looked at the marriage certificate and said, that she believes that we were married laughingly. She asked me if I had the latest pay stub and when I told her it is at the back of the folder she is looking. Without even looking at it, she told, to collect my passport after 4PM at VFS center and gave me the address where to collect. I asked her what will be the start date on my Visa and explained since my extension does not start untill Nov 2007, I showed her my 1 year extension which was valid from Nov 2006 to Nov 2007. She told me she will give me Visa from today to Nov 2010.
We were out of the consulate with in 1 hour or so. We decided not to collect the passport on the same day, as our return flight was at 7:00PM the same day and the travel time from COnsulate to the airport is around 1 hour 30 mins. Also heard that Kolkota is famous for traffic jams especially in the evenings. Next day afternoon, the passports were delivered to our house address thru courier service. Check the visa and all the information were correct. It has an annotation explaning that the visa stamping includes 2 approval forms and its petition numbers etc. in it. I was totally relieved after I got my passport with visa stamped in my hands. Whole process took 4 days after I landed in India.
If you had any questions feel free to post it here and I will try to reply.
Thanks,
Sri
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