What if i am in other country at the time of visa interview?

USA H1B Visa
1

Hello Everyone,

I am Sheraj. I have applied for H1B visa and currently working in Singapore. If my petition is approved, i have to attend the visa interview with US consulate. As i am working in Singapore and recently visited to India, i may not get the leaves from my current employer to visit frequently.

In this case, can i attend the visa interview in US Consulate of Singapore or is it mandatory, the candidate should attend the visa interview in the country of their citizenship only.

Your views will be very helpful.

Eagerly waiting for the responses.

Thank You

Sheraj

2

The DS-160 is a single global document. It does not change with countries. This means applying from Singapore is same as applying from India. People on this forum have applied for visas from Singapore, Dubai, France and London although they are citizens from another country. Please note however that when you apply for an H-1B and seek interview in a foreign country, it sometimes but not always triggers a security alert in Department of State computers. If the alert is triggered, they are required by law to investigate you in country of present employment and your country of citizenship. The situation gets complicated, security investigations are time consuming so they in turn trigger an RFE which is just a waste of time. Applying in home country would be better but if you can’t do it, just go for local submission; there are more success stories than someone getting denied outright.

All the best



Dr. Sandeep Shankar, Colorado Heights University, Denver, CO 80223, USA. www.chu.edu; sshankar@chu.edu
3

Hi Dr. Sandeep,

Hope you are doing good.

Thanks a lot for your answer.Can you please give me an idea what sort of investigation will be done and what other documents have to provided at the time of H1B Interview if i opt for submission in the foreign country.

What is meant by RFE?

Looking forward for your reply.

4

Hi Sheraj,

Documents are standard, nothing new needs to be submitted, your US employer will prepare all that is required. If you carry few pieces of evidence that connect you strongly with Singapore via employment and to your home country via family, education, references etc; this will help. By RFE, I mean ‘Request for Evidence’ meaning the embassy needs more information from you prior to final approval. Please keep in mind I am not saying an investigation will be triggered. It may not even happen and you will receive approval.