H1B Stamping at Vancouver, CA

USA H1B Visa
1

I hail from Indian and currently in the US for the last 7 years on H1-B visa. I am planning to visit Vancouver, Canada US consulate for my H1-B visa stamping and would like to know the if any risks on visiting CA instead of doing the stamping in my home country, India.

I received 221g on my first h1B stamping in 2010 from Chennai consulate. They kept my passport and was returned after 6 months when the additional administrative processing was complete. I again went for stamping in 2014 in Chennai, didn’t have any issues and visa got approved. Both these instances, I was working for Infosys/Capgemini and consulting for different clients. Now I moved to T-Mobile as an FTE and hopefully, there shouldn’t be any issues on visa stamping.

However, can you please confirm if there is any risk of getting 221g while going for stamping in Canada. They have done additional verification (221g) on 2010 when visited Chennai consulate and would they be able to pull that details from a different consulate. Just wondering if there is a chance of getting 221g since visiting a different consulate.

Also, if anyone visited Canada for H1B stamping, pls share your experience and the questions asked during the visa interview.

Appreciate your reply!

Thanks,

2

Well, in general, many say Canada is better…but, there are instances where some people were stuck in Canada for a month or so for additional verification and in some cases, some had to go back to their country. The whole point is, every case is different and history can play a role in that… In terms of logistics, Canada could be better as it closer and easier…You can definitely give it a try, but just be prepared, so that if things don’t go well, you are prepared…

3

I have done this in 2016 at Montreal consulate. My personal opinion is I would definitely recommend it as the consulate was responsive. I received ‘NOT IN PIMS’ status and hence had to stay for 5 days in Canada. If you have faced 221(g) in past and dont have a place to stay then may be better to go for stamping in home country. It again goes case by case and amount of risk you want to take.