$$$$$$$$

Hello,

I am posting this question for a friend. He came to USA on a H1-B visa 4
years ago. After working in that company for 2+ years - he was let go.
He started working for another company soon after and get a new H1B. But
the stamping on his passport was for original company and expired 1 year
ago. He did not get stamping for the new H1B. I guess, his visa expired
but the new H1B means he was still legal. Now, he wants to travel out
of the country - can he get his passport stamped for the new H1B before
leaving - so that he does not need to get the stamping in his home
country?

thanks

PC

J. J. Farrell

"$$$$$$$$" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am posting this question for a friend. He came to USA on a H1-B visa 4
    > years ago. After working in that company for 2+ years - he was let go.
    > He started working for another company soon after and get a new H1B. But
    > the stamping on his passport was for original company and expired 1 year
    > ago. He did not get stamping for the new H1B. I guess, his visa expired
    > but the new H1B means he was still legal. Now, he wants to travel out
    > of the country - can he get his passport stamped for the new H1B before
    > leaving - so that he does not need to get the stamping in his home
    > country?

No.

marlborobell

To expand on that 'no', it depends whether the expiration was more or less than one year ago. If the visa expired less than a year ago, then yes, he can re-file in the US. If it's more than a year (actually, more than about 50 weeks), then he needs to apply abroad. So if it's 'about a year', it depends which side of that year he is...

See http://travel.state.gov/hlop.html for more details.

Thor

"$$$$$$$$" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
    > I am posting this question for a friend. He came to USA on a H1-B visa 4
    > years ago. After working in that company for 2+ years - he was let go.
    > He started working for another company soon after and get a new H1B. But
    > the stamping on his passport was for original company and expired 1 year
    > ago. He did not get stamping for the new H1B. I guess, his visa expired
    > but the new H1B means he was still legal. Now, he wants to travel out
    > of the country - can he get his passport stamped for the new H1B before
    > leaving - so that he does not need to get the stamping in his home
    > country?

Yes, and he should consider getting the Visa imprint before leaving
the U.S. in order to avoid trouble when returning here.

The situation you describe is pretty common for H1Bs changing
employers - I had the same situation. If there is an overlap between
the validity of your friends old H1B and the new one, so that he was
never out of status while in the U.S., there shouldn't be a problem
getting the new imprint. Visa revalidations (passport imprints) can be
done in two ways:
1.) at a Consulate in your home country
2.) at the Visa processing center in St. Louis, KY (?) - see
travel.state.gov

Being from Germany, I simply went through the Consulate in Frankfurt
where things always went smooth before. I simply had to complete Form
DS-157 plus another new Form asking all males between 15 and 45
additional questions (forgot the #). Sent that along with the required
documentation (I94, notice of action etc), plus the proof of payment
for the Consular Processing Fee, plus a return-envelope with
FedEx-Number, plus our Passports - and got everything back within
9days from there (including shipping from/to Los Angeles area).

Note, however, that Frankfurt has a pretty good ratio of
Employees/Visa-Applicants, so the processing speed there is different
than in Chennai or Juarez etc.


The only issue we found was that the Frankfurt Consulate for some
reason only wanted payments of the Processing fee being made upfront
via German fund-transfer and they required a stamped and signed proof
of transfer (Ueberweisungsbeleg). No cash, no personal checks, no
cashiers checks, no wire, no CC#, nothing from the U.S. would have
been accepted for the payment - not even a transfer from a German bank
via Internet. They wanted the paper-proof.
So, essentially that added about 5days upfront for the proofs of
payment to arrive here.

When sending your passports to the processing centre here in the U.S.
you are looking at least at a couple of months for the processing.

Good Luck !

$$$$$$$$

    > To expand on that 'no', it depends whether the expiration was more or
    > less than one year ago. If the visa expired less than a year ago, then
    > yes, he can re-file in the US. If it's more than a year (actually, more
    > than about 50 weeks), then he needs to apply abroad. So if it's 'about a
    > year', it depends which side of that year he is...

Yes, the visa stamp expired more than a year ago.

Thanks for your help!!

    > See http://travel.state.gov/hlop.html for more details.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

crg

if he leaves the United States, he needs to get a new visa placed into his passport with his picture on it before coming back. The one exception is if he was only going to contiguous territory or adjacent island ie. Canada, Mexico, Jamaica for less than 30 days and he had his original I-94.

J. J. Farrell

"Thor" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "$$$$$$$$" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > > I am posting this question for a friend. He came to USA on a H1-B visa 4
    > > years ago. After working in that company for 2+ years - he was let go.
    > > He started working for another company soon after and get a new H1B. But
    > > the stamping on his passport was for original company and expired 1 year
    > > ago. He did not get stamping for the new H1B. I guess, his visa expired
    > > but the new H1B means he was still legal. Now, he wants to travel out
    > > of the country - can he get his passport stamped for the new H1B before
    > > leaving - so that he does not need to get the stamping in his home
    > > country?
    > Yes, and he should consider getting the Visa imprint before leaving
    > the U.S. in order to avoid trouble when returning here.

Incorrect. He can only get it revalidated in the USA within a year
of expiry of the previous visa.

    > When sending your passports to the processing centre here in the U.S.
    > you are looking at least at a couple of months for the processing.

It seems to be about 4 months at the moment.