How did I renew my H1B visa stamp in Canada (Ottawa) within three business days?
INTRO
I recently renewed my H1B visa in Ottawa, Canada. My plan was to go back to my home country for 2 weeks during Christmas and New Year, and I was concerned about two things: (1) I heard many people got checked in my home country, and (2) two weeks’ time might or might not be enough for me to get my passport back (I usually reserve three weeks). So, I decided to go to Canada to renew my H1B visa.
I’ve experienced a lot of worries and concerns during the process, so I want to write my experience down and hope this can help people who need this. This blog includes the most detailed step-by-step guide to renew your visa in Canada, the detour you might go and the resolutions, the timelines of mine and the person who interviewed right behind me, and more.
My background
I had four H1B visa stamps on my passport before this, and I’ve never been checked once. My education background is not anything sensitive, neither is my work field.
STEP 1: Have a valid visa to go to Canada
If you need a Canada visa to go to Canada, you will first need to apply for one. You can start from here and here. I had some bad experience with the application of Canada visa, and I can write it out if needed. My only suggestion is — if you are going to Canada, apply a Canada visa as early as possible so you don’t have to cancel your travel plan if your passport doesn’t arrive beforehand. Also confirm your passport is valid for at least 6 months. The application process of the Canada visa is not the focus of this blog so I will assume you already have a visa to go to Canada.
Step 2: Fill out a DS-160
You can fill out a DS-160 here. My first a few questions about filling out the DS-160 were — which city should I choose for the interview? Where can I see which city has closer time slots? Can I switch the city later without filling out a new DS-160?
These questions are valid, as the process is a little different in my home country. I used to check the city first, then fill out the DS-160, and never switched a city as there were always a lot of open spots in my home country. Visa stamping in Canada, however, has very limited open spots, and I was surprised to see the first date available was in Feb 2020 when I was making the appointment on 30 Sep 2019. I’ll tell you the story later.
The short answer is, the city on your DS-160 doesn’t matter, and you can switch the city in the schedule system later without filling out a new DS-160. My DS-160 had Vancouver on it, but I ended up interviewing in Ottawa. You can also update the DS-160 information in the DS-160 system if you want to be safe.
One tip: Make sure you submit an electronic photo when you fill out your DS-160. I both submitted the electronic photo on the website (took it at home and photoshopped it) and took the physical photos at a UPS store, but the interviewer told me the background on the physical photo is too dark (UPS did a bad job here), and she was able to use the electronic version I submitted. There was a photo shop at the embassy anyways if both versions don’t satisfy the standards, but REMEMBER TO BRING CASH CAD to pay for it! There was a girl who was looking for CAD paper money from the crowd because of this.
STEP 3: Scheduling an appointment
You can schedule an appointment here. Register for an account if you are using it for the first time, and make sure you have completed your DS-160. The website is well built and easy to follow. The visa fee is $190 for H/L/O/etc. visas. You can pay by cash / Visa/ Mastercard.
One question it asked was “are you traveling from another country to apply for a U.S. visa in Canada”, which I answered honestly as “yes”, but I’ve heard you will see far more availability if you answer “no”, as they reserve the spots for local residents.
I didn’t go that route, but I eventually scheduled the appointment at 7:45am on 31 October 2019 while the earliest date I saw at my first attempt as of 30 September 2019 was in Feb 2020. The way I did it was to keep an eye on the availability everyday. I’ve seen very good open spots between after midnight (like 2am) and before early morning (like 4am). Checking the availability became my new hobby when I could not fall asleep at night.
To pick up the passport, you need to choose a pick-up location (can be different from the city where you did your interview). You can also mail it to an address within Canada. I chose the location (1 Rideau St.) near the embassy, which turned out to be an office within Hotel Fairmont Château Laurier, the fanciest hotel in Ottawa.
You will need a U.S. driver license to get your passport back. Or you can ask someone with Canadian address proofs to help pick it up.
STEP 4: Prepare for the interview
I almost brought my whole life to the interview as I was afraid they ask me for something I did’t bring. The materials I prepared for the interview included:
The ones that were used:
(1) Passport (valid for at least 6 months, and has most recent visa stamp if applicable)
(2) DS-160 confirmation page
(3) The instructions page from the appointment system
(4) Latest I-797A (I also brought the old ones)
(5) Copy of proof of your legal status in Canada — the copy was not used, but the visa itself was of course used
The ones that were not used:
(6) One visa photo — not used due to background too dark, and they used the electronic version I submitted to the system
(7) If your spouse goes with you, need the marriage license; if your children go with you, need the birth certificate. I went on my own, so didn’t need any of these.
(8) Resume (avoided key words machine learning etc.)
(9) Employment data report — Our company uses Equifax to generate the data report which includes my entire salary history and job titles, etc., I intended to use this as employment verification
(10) Offer letter
(11) The approval letter from my company for my I-797 visa petition
(12) All my past I20's
(13) Most recent I94
(14) Payment receipt for the visa appointment
(15) Most recent three months paystubs
(16) Expired EAD card
(17) Bachelor degree and transcripts
(18) Master degree and transacripts
(19) Social security card
(20) I also brought the printout of the automatic re-validation page with me, not for the interview, but for coming back without a valid visa in case I got checked. I’ll explain later.
STEP 5: Go to Canada
The process at the customs was super fast (I arrived at 1:30am though). You need to enter your information on a machine before you go to the customs. You will need to specify how long you will stay in Canada (which I don’t think matters, but I said 7 days). The officials at the customs asked me a few questions:
(1) Why are you coming to Canada? — To visit my cousin and do my U.S. visa
(2) U.S. visa? Are you a worker in the states? — Yes.
That’s it.
STEP 6: Go to the interview
7am in Ottawa on 31 October 2019 was dark, rainy, and cold. The instructions told me I need to arrive 15 mins earlier than my appointment, but no earlier than 15 mins. I arrived there at 7:20am. The security told everyone to stay outside and wait, so everyone stood in the rain and waited until they were ready. The earliest one is 7:30am, and then it’s 7:45am and 8am.
7:50am: entered the building
8am: at the first window, the official checked my photo and told me she can use the electronic version. She also gave me a brochure about the rights workers have in the U.S., and asked me to start reading as the later windows will ask me about the contents in there
8:10am: at the second window for the fingerprints
8:25am: at the third window for the “real” interview. Questions asked:
(1) What’s your major?
(2) What do you do?
(3) What’s your title at your company?
(4) How long have you been with the company?
(5) How much is your salary?
(6) Can you tell me what’s in the brochure? — I repeated a small portion of the stuff in the brochure, including we have the rights to report abuse, discrimination and sexual harassment, and there are laws to protect workers who report, etc.
Then she said, “thank you, your visa has been approved, please allow 3–5 business days to pick up your passport. You will be emailed or called once your passport is ready for pickup.”
8:30am: I’m out of the building. The entire process was less than an hour.
STEP 7: Check visa status and pick up the passport
You can check your status here. My timeline below:
Thursday, 10/31 7:45am: interview
Thursday, 10/31 8:30am: done with interview
Thursday, 10/31 10am: status is administrative processing
Friday, 11/1 10:30am: status says issued
Monday, 11/4 10:50am: passport ready for pickup
FYI, the timeline for the guy who did the interview right behind me is below. The difference is he chose Canada Post as the pick-up location while I chose 1 Rideau St Fairmount Chateau Laurier Unit 704. He got an email with the tracking number of the package but I didn’t. I was a little worried at the beginning but it turned out there was no interim email for me and the only email I received asked me to pick my passport up directly.
Thursday, 10/31 7:45am: interview
Thursday, 10/31 8:35am: done with interview
Thursday, 10/31 10am: status is administrative processing
Friday, 11/1 10:30am: status says issued
Friday, 11/1 1:15pm: received an email notifying the documents were released to the courier
Monday, 11/4 11:30am: walked into Canada Post and got passport back before the tracking status is updated to delivered
What a journey!
AT THE END
In general, the entire process was very smooth. I was hoping I could get my passport back on Friday (as I saw some people did that online), but it didn’t happen to me eventually. However, I had some fun in Ottawa during the weekend by myself and it’s a nice city to stay over a weekend, so it’s not bad!
Wish you all the best with the process.
P.S. about automatic re-validation:
I didn’t use this eventually, so I cannot attest to it, but based on my reading on people’s cases online, you can come back to the U.S. without a valid visa if you travel from the U.S. to Canada/Mexico/some other countries within 30 days and do not travel to any other countries during the 30-day period.
Also, you can ask for your passport back at the visa interview if (1) you are checked and have to wait in Canada if you don’t ask for your passport, or (2) you have some urgent matters or need to come back to the U.S. for work.
So, you can ask for your passport, come back to the U.S. using automatic re-validation, and when the visa stamp is ready, you can either (1) fly to Canada to hand in your passport for stamping, or (2) mail your passport to a Canada address where your families or friends are at and ask them to mail your passport to the embassy to stamp your visa. For (2), you have to mail it to a Canada address because they require the passport to be mailed from a Canada address (not sure why); also, they can only mail it to a Canada address, so if you choose this option, you’ll have to ask your families and friends to mail it back to the U.S. when the passport is picked up.
