J. J. Farrell

Has anyone applied for an H-1B visa at the Consulate in
London, UK,
based on a 7th year (or subsequent) extension approval? Do
you know of
anyone who applied for a visa in London for the 7th or later
years, or
at other Consulates come to that? I'd like to know if there
are any
issues or problems associated with this special case.

The background to this question is that a while ago I came
across a
notice issued by Colin Powell as Secretary of State shortly
after the
7th year extensions came in. This said that although it was
now
possible to extend status year by year after the end of the
6th year,
visas were not to be issued based on these extensions. I'm
sure I heard
of 7th year visas being granted well after this instruction
was issued,
so I guess it was later either changed or forgotten about. I
never
managed to find anything which changed this instruction
though (and
just at the moment I can't find the instruction itself
either).

If anyone knows about visas having been granted for 7th year
or later
extensions in the last year or so, please let me know. Any
up-to-date
tips about H-1B visa applications in London would also be
welcome (I
know the Consulate website story, but anything additional
from people
who've recently done it would be helpful).

Many Thanks,
jjfP.S. Apologies if this
appears twice - first attempt through Google does not appear
to have got out after some hours.