Khamyre

I recently went for my interview in London with my I797A approval notice for H1B status. I have been working in the US for the last 5 years on H1B status.

When I got my passport back the VISA has a class of H2B.

Is there any reason why the US consular in London issued me an H2B when my approval notice says H1B?

I'm worried to travel back to the US on this VISA since it does not match either my approval notice or the job type I have been working at for the last 5 years.

J. J. Farrell

On Mar 22, 1:49 am, Khamyre <[email protected]>
wrote:
> I recently went for my interview in London with my I797A approval notice
> for H1B status. I have been working in the US for the last 5 years on
> H1B status.
>
> When I got my passport back the VISA has a class of H2B.
>
> Is there any reason why the US consular in London issued me an H2B when
> my approval notice says H1B?

Yes - they screwed up.

> I'm worried to travel back to the US on this VISA since it does not
> match either my approval notice or the job type I have been working at
> for the last 5 years.

You can't enter the USA as an H-1B using an H-2B visa. You need to get
in touch with the Consulate and get the visa replaced. Since it's
their screw-up I hope they'll deal with it quickly.

Khamyre

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I was concerned it was an error on their part. The problem now is I'm stuck in the UK until I can get some kind of repsonse from them as to what to do. It's incredibly difficult to contact them as they have no direct number, only an email address.

It's ridiculous that because of a mistake they have made I have to wait for them to respond to fix it and meanwhile I'm stuck.

Khamyre

Do you think it would be possible to go back to the Embassy with my incorrect VISA and original appointment letter to ask if they can change it for me?

J. J. Farrell

On Mar 23, 2:27 pm, Khamyre <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > Thanks for your reply.
>
> > Yes, I was concerned it was an error on their part. The problem now is
> > I'm stuck in the UK until I can get some kind of repsonse from them as
> > to what to do. It's incredibly difficult to contact them as they have
> > no direct number, only an email address.
>
> > It's ridiculous that because of a mistake they have made I have to
> > wait for them to respond to fix it and meanwhile I'm stuck.
>
> Do you think it would be possible to go back to the Embassy with my
> incorrect VISA and original appointment letter to ask if they can change
> it for me?

I don't know, but I'd be very surprised if you'd get in without an
appointment. I'd ring up the appointment line and explain the
situation, press for an emergency appointment if necessary.

JulianB

I'm not sure your last statement is true. I had a similar experience, the embassy gave me a J-2 visa instead of J-1, their error. There simply wasn't time to arrange another appointment, so I contacted the embassy NIV department, and they sent me a fax back confirming their error. Armed with that, my J-1 docs and passport, I stood in line at SFO immigration. The officer stamped my visa "cancelled-embassy error", and admitted me no problem. The J-1 status was valid.