Question for non-immigrants on H1-B visa
 

I am a non-US citizen working in Boston and have obtained an approval for an H1-B (temporary work) visa. I am travelling to Spain in the summer and need to get my visa stamp before returning to the US. Can you recommend a particular US consulate in Canada or Europe, where the application procedure is quick (one day) and painless. In Spain it would take me 10 days to get the visa!

I think you will find that processing time at ANY US Embassy/Consulate will be slow and exceedingly thorough. I apologize in advance for the hostile way the consular officer will treat you. Welcome to Amerika!

Really helpful reply, fowler.

What is the procedure now? At one point I think that you had to call a number to make a visa appointment for a US Consulate in Canada. The appointment had to be made a couple of weeks in advance. I don't know if the visa could be done in a day though. I think that at one point, it was a process that required at least one night's stay.

Try looking at an immigration-related website or ask on Usenet (i.e. newsgroups, which you can access from Google, for example). A website that might be useful to you is http://www.immigration.com (ask on one of the forums there)).

Get over it, Ira...the processing CAN BE tedious just as the poster has said..or do you have some better information you can offer this person?

These days for processing you have to return to your home country. Even if you did do it in Canada, it takes a couple of weeks to get a date and that too might be at any of the consulates. You might have to fly to Vancouver or Calgary for that (not necessarily a bad thing if you haven't been to either places).

ira -- well there was no way I could say "sure -- you can get it in an hour or a day." What I said was helpful -- because it IS accurate.

The process of visa renewal via "drop box" has been curtailed because of the biometric requirements and each renewal is being treated essentially as a new application, with no "credit" for previous "good behavior."

It is spotty at this point, but foreign nationals who are students are now being asked for proof that they have PREPAID the tuition for the whole school year before they will even consider their application. In our Macedonian "son's" case -- that's us -- but for many students who piece things together over the course of the year this is the kiss of death to finishing their education in this country.

I understand why we are being more careful -- but in my experience consular officers hate their jobs -- it's the first stepping stone up the State Dept. ladder. And their attitude ranges from "don't care" to active impediment of someone who has submitted a complete and appropriate application. They really do take it out on the applicants.

My evidence is not just based on the actions of the U.S. Consular Office in Skopje, Macedonia, but the one in Paris, France. And not just one case or one time.

Now with my luck -- some disgruntled consular officer will read this and put me on the non-fly list.

alandonova-

After 9/11 & the establishment of Dept of Homeland Security (which the Immigration & Visa Services are under), non-US citizens are not advised to get their H1-B visa stamps at "border" embassies anymore (ie Mexico or Canada). In fact, most immigration experts highly recommend one to return to one's home country to apply for H1-B. The risk you take by trying to obtain a H1-B visa not in your home country is that the embassy has the right to REFUSE to process your visa. Then you are left with:
1. You cannot return to the US
2. You have to buy a plane ticket to go to your home country.
3. Most US embassies now require a visa applicant to schedule an appointment ahead of time, then they will interview you & decide on whether they will grant you a visa (even though you are ligitimate). This process can be 1 day, can be 2 weeks, depending on the embassy.

I would suggest you do some more investigation before you make definite plans to travel. The last thing you want is to be stuck somewhere outside of the US and cannot get your visa stamp to return.

I am not trying to sound dramatic, but things are very different post 9/11, and I have heard stories from the International Office in UPENN where ligitimate professors or researchers got denied their H1-B at "non-home country" embassies.

Alandonova:

The system at the US Embassy in the UK - ans I can't imagine it's that different anywhere else - is that you can start the process online, then contact the embassy by phone for an appointment - inevitably some time in the future.

Both these two first steps can be done from anywhere on the globe. You then turn up in person for the interview on a date you've agreed for some time. And I've found that the embassy has also been reasonably helpful in replying on some practrical iossues by email.

So isn't the solution to fix a session at the US embassy in Madrid for a date, say six weeks ahead, then turn up for that session?