|
 Nandini
Nair says that your passport must be valid for at least six
months beyond the date your H1-B approval expires
I have
read some information about people who are entering the US under
the Cultural Exchange Program (J1 Visa). In the instructions it
is mentioned that for the ‘Certificate of eligibility for exchange
visitor (J-1) status’, the documents required for admission/re-admission
as an Exchange Visitor is “a passport valid for six months
beyond the anticipated period of admission, unless exempt from passport
requirements”. Now my doubt is that I have an H1-B visa, which
was stamped during November 2001, and it is valid till September
2003, but my passport expires in August 2003. I would like to know
whether the above rule holds true for persons going to the US on
an H1-B visa. If so, do I have to renew my passport? My H1-B sponsor
will be sending my tickets next week. Kindly let me know the procedure
that I should follow.
—Vivek
Kumar
Yes,
the J-1 rule also applies to H1-B visas. The US State Department
rules require that a visa applicant’s passport be valid for
a period of six months beyond the expiration date of the contemplated
initial period of stay in the US, thus this means that your passport
must be valid for at least six months beyond the date your H1-B
approval expires. Otherwise, the consulate office will not issue
the visa. There are some countries with which the US has entered
into agreements where passports of either country are assumed to
be extended for six months beyond the stated expiration date, therefore
nationals of those countries can be admitted to the US up to the
actual date of the passport’s expiration, because their passports
are considered to be valid for another six months after that point.
Unfortunately, India is not among those countries that have such
an agreement with the US. Thus, you need to get your passport renewed
before applying for the visa.
I
have an H1-B approval notice valid till October 2003. The consultant
who sponsored me has asked me to get my visa stamped and enter the
US in January. The problem is that I have got the non-immigrant
visa application and I am trying to complete it. There is a question
on it, which asks whether I had ever been denied a nonimmigrant
visa. I did submit a visa application earlier which had got denied
but it is not mentioned in my passport. It just says ‘application
received’, is this the denial stamp?
—Anurag
Agarwal
Yes,
that is the visa denial stamp. Usually when a visa application is
denied, the passport is stamped on the last page with a notation
that the consulate received a visa application on a specified date.
This stamp will indicate to any other consular officer at a later
date that a previous visa application was refused. Therefore, you
must state that you had a previous visa denial and explain the circumstances
of the prior refusal.
I
have secured admission at the University in Missouri for a Masters
program and will be going shortly to the consulate for visa. I have
heard from several people that I need to have financial documentation
with me when I go to the consulate. Please explain.
—Sumit
Mehta
Under
INS regulations, students applying for an F-1 student visa must
present documentation to the consulate regarding his or her means
of financial support during their stay in the US. It should be sufficient
to assure that all expenses are covered without the need to engage
in employment in the US, which is forbidden under the F-1 regulations
except in certain circumstances. You can show evidence of 1) Financial
aid given by the University like fellowships, scholarships or assistantships.
2) Financial aid given by the student’s home government. 3)
Financial aid from private organisations. 4) Personal funds of the
student by showing bank statements. 5) Funds from the student’s
family and/or 6) Funds from other people. You have to remember that
while sufficient resources on hand to cover the expenses of the
first year are usually enough to get the F-1 visa issued, there
must be some showing that similar resources will be available in
each subsequent year of the student’s program. So, you will
really need to show that you will be able to pay for the entire
Master’s program to get your F-1 issued by the consulate.I
had applied for a B-2 visiting visa in August 2001 at the Chennai
consulate and it was rejected. I was not given a reason but was
handed a piece of paper which said that I was a potential immigrant.
Now, I want to apply for F-1 student visa. I have already appeared
for the GMAT and TOEFL applying for admissions into universities
in the US. Please let me know soon since the deadlines for universities
are nearing.
—
Laxman Ramaswamy
You
are eligible to apply for the F-1 student visa, even though you
were rejected for B-2 tourist visa. Please make sure that you have
the Form I-20A-B, Certificate of Eligibility for Non-immigrant (F-1)
Student Status from the university. They have different requirements,
thus your B-2 rejection should not hinder you from getting the F-1
visa.
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