Saralouise39

Hi,
We have lived in New York for last 3 yrs (& although I have only just become a member of this forum, I have read the advice & posts of others many times!)
It is time to renew our Blanket L1 & L2 visas, for 2 adults & 2 kids, as work contract been extended for a further year.
Don't really want to go to UK to do this as went back at Easter.
Looked at Bahamas but government website said they are only doing Bahamians (if that is correct name?) visa renewals.
Can we renew in Cayman Isles, or British Virgin Isles, or anywhere else with a better climate than the UK
Thanks in advance for any advice
Sara

notonuksoil

We didn't need to leave the US to renew ours, all done via our immigration attorney.

bilbos92

There is actually no need to go anywhere to "renew" the L1 etc.

The I797 that you get from USCIS approving any extension will have an extended I94 at the bottom.

This means that you can stay in the US with that documentation. However, if you intend to leave the US for any reason, you will need to go and get a visa in your passport. I "presume" this can be done anywhere that has a US consulate. And you will need to allow time to do that. If you only plan on staying the extra year of the contract, you should weigh up the options

Orangepants

The Cayman Islands does not have a consulate - they go to Jamaica for their visas. If you email the Bahamas consulate - they do allow renewals of stamps at their discretion as we were going to go there but in the end decided to do the London trip. I had my initial visa done in Toronto so that is another option.

Saralouise39

We will need to renew, as husband has to make business trips out of States & we both have elderly parents, so would hate not to be able to make any necessary trips back to the UK.
Our immigration attorney says we have to leave the US & be on 'British soil' to get the visa extension.
What about Bermuda, anyone know if this is a viable option?

ian-mstm

Making a trip to the UK won't be an issue at any time. The issue is getting back into the US!


That's simply not true. I suggest you find a different immigration attorney... the one you have isn't too bright!


There's a US Consulate in Bermuda... it's viable, as is Jamaica. Try not to go during hurricane season!

Ian

Saralouise39

If Our immigration attorney is wrong (sorry I don't know how to paste appropriate quote) what are the actual rules for renewing visas?
we know that we can stay without the visa & only need them if we leave US, in order to re-enter, but where can we renew them?
HR is telling us we have to go to the US embassy in UK.
Can we just go to any US embassy, we were under the impression we had to leave the US to do this?
Sorry, if repeating myself, but finding it all a bt confusing ......

Orangepants

Yes you have to go to a US Consulate, (you will not find one in the US!) and it depends if they allow third party nationals which most of them do. Search for the US Embassy of the country you want to go to and then email them and ask if you can renew there. From personal experience - Bahamas said yes as did Toronto.

notonuksoil

We were told we could renew in the US without leaving but when we did leave we had to get the new visa stamp put into our passports before we could re enter the US. Our attorney told us we could go to any US consulate or US embassy that did visa renewals.

We just planned getting the new stamp put in when we next went back to the UK and actually went to Belfast, it took 2 days, going to London would have taken 2 weeks+ form organising the appointment to getting the passports back. In the UK we couldn't wait for the stamp to be put in we had to get the passports mailed to us by courier.

ian-mstm

You can renew them at any US Consulate. There are no US Consulates in the US.


They likely don't know any better... but they're wrong. By the way, you won't be renewing at the US Embassy in the UK even if you do go... you'll be renewing at the US Consular Service - which just happens to be in the same compound as the Embassy.


You can not get a visa at a US Embassy. Embassies do not deal with visas. You must go to a US Consulate. There's a difference between the two, and the terms aren't interchangeable.

Ian

Saralouise39

Thank you so much for your help, in my ignorance I had no idea there was any difference between an embassy & a consulate!
So I will start to email US consulates & try to find one that will help - hoping Bermuda will come through......
Btw originally I was searching for UK consulates thinking this was the way to go, would be so nice if HR had any idea what they were doing when they dish out 'advice'!
Great forum, thanks

Michael

Their advice is about as good as you get from the embassy, border guards, or USCIS which is usually wrong.

lisa67

We renewed several times in both Toronto and Vancouver as we lived in MI at the time.

Steve_

You don't need to renew visas, it is purely a travel document, it is meaningless once you enter the US. What you need to do is renew your status, which can be done with USCIS in the US directly.

IIRC, the employer files an updated I-129S with USCIS, they spit out an I-797 and that has your revised validity on it. No need to go anywhere.

Steve_

Sounds like a crap attorney to me.