ITsWhatIDo

Hi,

I have a little dilemma. I want to spend a week in the US to house hunt etc. My interview for the Blanket H1 will be around 2 Feb.

Do I go the week before or wait until the passports are returned with the L1? What is the process when I have the L1 of travelling back to the UK and then re-entering? I just hand in the I-94 and get a new one stamped when I arrive again? If I go after the L-1 I could also organsie the SSN and have it ready for when I arrive?

All help appreciated.

Thank you.

ian-mstm

If it was me, I'd wait until I had the L-1 visa in my passport. As long as the L-1 is valid, you can travel back and forth as much as you want.

Ian

meauxna

If you have enough time, the 2nd plan sounds good just for the SSN option. You may be able to go get a print out from the SSA with your number, which could help with the house hunting.
Six of one, half dozen of the other really.

Chrissywissy100

I may have the wrong end of the stick here, but it isnt a good idea to apply for your SSN as soon as you have entered the US as it takes at least 10 days for Homeland security to get their act together and recognise that you are in the country.

I have heard stories of people applying for their SSN's within 1 week of arriving, and because they cant "find" you on their computer system, the processing of your SSN can take months and months!

I waited til I'd been here for 2 weeks, then it only took another 3 for my SSN to arrive.

MsElui

very true - i would be wary of applying for ssn to soon after initial L1 activation.

rebs

We did our househunting trip after we had the L visas in our passports, effectively 'activating' them on that trip. That meant that when we came over a couple of months later we could go straight into the social security office in the first couple of days we were here and do the application for SSNs as we were already in the system.