From: adarsh@sybase.com (Adarsh Pannu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Got H1 Visa from Juarez, Mexico: Trip Report
Keywords: H1 Visa Juarez Success
Date: 11 Nov 92 18:54:39 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Sybase, Inc.

GETTING AN H1 MULTIPLE-ENTRY VISA FROM JUAREZ, MEXICO
-----------------------------------------------------

Documents to be taken
---------------------
Mandatory:
	Passport
	I-94	(Do not give this at the Mexican border. The Consulate officers,
		however, will need to see this.)
	H1 Blue form
	Letter from the company, stating your position, period of employment,
		salary, nature of business done by the company, your
		skills/importance, need for international travel etc etc. Make
		this as impressive as possible.
	$100 for the visa
	One photograph (37mm x 37mm) (Nobody is particular about the exact
		size. We've heard conflicting requirements, so I took a
		pair of scissors. Anyway, now you know !)

	In general, no other documents other than the ones mentioned above
	are required.

Also carry:
	Marriage Certificate (if married)
	All Bachelors/Masters/higher degrees/certificates	
	Company ID/Visiting Cards/Latest pay stubs
	
	Copy of the H1 petition (ask your lawyer -- optional)
	Some company literature	(optional)
	(Actually, some of these items are to merely add to your sense of
	security.)

The story:
----------
Three of us flew to El Paso last Saturday. El Paso (Texas) and Juarez
(Mexico) are border-towns. We arrived there in the evening. Here is a
description, right from the time we landed.

1. Get some maps/etc 
There is a visitors information booth, which closes at 5:00PM. We
arrived later than that, so we requested one of the policemen if s/he
could provide us with some maps/etc from the booth-counter. We got a
Restaurant/Lodging Guide along with a map of El Paso. In fact, we got a better
map from the car-rental agency.

2. Rent a motel
Motels are generally inexpensive, ranging from $30 upwards. There is a
courtesy calling center, which is hooked to only some of the motels. You could
use this service and book the right place. Most motels also have a courtesy 
airport pickup. We stayed at the Econo Lodge, which is not hooked via the
courtesy-calling center. However, they do have a pickup.

El Paso is a small town, and most motels are quite close to the
airport. Try getting a place on either Montana or Airway Blvd, for the
reason that they are closer to the airport. Some of the other folks
we met were staying at Travelodge for $36 a night. Again, the
restaurant/lodging guide was very helpful in choosing a motel close to
the airport.

3. Rent a car
We rented a car for a day. Cars are pretty inexpensive too, starting
from a base rate of $17 for a small sized car. (I forgot to mention
that that motel-courtesy-calling-booth is next to the car-rental
booths). We had a whole Sunday to spend, and the car was really handy.
If you don't plan to rent a car, you may like to have HBO in your room.

4. Spend the Sunday
I guess we could have arrived in El Paso on Sunday, had we got a better
itenary on the discount tickets we had ! All we did on Sunday was -- eat, 
eat, eat, sleep. Some other folks went to a place called "Carlsbad Caverns"
which is supposed to be nice. Sleep early on Sunday evening, as the big day
it to come !

5. Wakeup call / Cab etc
We requested the Motel desk for a wakeup call at 3:00 AM (El Paso time).
We were all ready by 3:35 AM, and called for a cab to take us across the
border. Checker/Yellow cab seem to be a good choice, as per the Motel staff.
We also checked out at the same time, leaving our luggage in the motel office.
In fact, we realized later that we could have requested for a late check-out.
See if you could manage that. That way, you would have a place to change/rest
after you're back.

Cab rates to Juarez range from $25 to $35, depending on whether you can
bargain or not. We decided not to, and settled for $35. At that unearthly hour,
the cab rate could definitely not be the foremost in anyone's mind. I think we
could have tried $30 :-) Anyway, you should try to have the exact change.

6. Crossing into Juarez
Juarez is the Mexican border town, and it has 3-4 entry points from
US.  We entered Juarez, and there were no problems at the US departure
point. The officers merely asked the cab driver on the purpose of the
entry. Just to be safe, we saved our I-94 forms in our innermost
pockets :-)

Earlier, we were wondering if a Mexican visa is required for entering
Mexico.  However, some folks had informed us that one could venture
upto 30 miles inside Mexico without requiring a visa. Therefore, we
did not feel the need to get the same. However, this is not officially
confirmed.

7. At the consulate
It took us about 20 minutes to reach the US Consulate (from the
motel).  As we got off the car, we could see about 50 people already
in a line.  Our information said that there ought to be two lines, but
we could'nt see the other one. Meanwhile, many other Indians landed
there, and there was some confusion on where to stand.  So we stood in
the line already there, waiting for someone knowledgeable to start
another one.

Take my word on this -- There will definitely be two lines. If you see
only one, rest assured that the other one has'nt started yet. These
lines are for the non-immigrant and immigrant visas respectively. The
latter line consists exclusively of Mexicans, and many of them are
waiting for their green-card interview.

As you face the Consulate, the non-immigrant visa line will be to your
left. This will start from the gate directly opposite to a restaurant
called "Cebollero". (The spelling may be wrong.) Go and stand next to
this gate if you're the first party to arrive. (The line starts from
the right edge of the gate.) If you're not the first, you'd already
know where to go.

We forgot that the Mexican time is one hour ahead of the El Paso time.
While it was 4:30 AM by our watches, the time in Mexico was 5:30 AM.
It was a relief to realize that we'll have to spend an hour less in
that cold.  If you take some sandwiches with you, make sure you finish
them before entering the consulate.

8. Inside the consulate

The gate opened at around 7:45 AM (Mexico time). The guard at the gate
looked at our passports, and allowed us inside. After that, we were
made to pass through a metal-detector.  Make sure that you carry
nothing except your papers.

Then, we moved inside the interview room. At this point, we were first
asked to have the photograph ready. A person at the first counter
(information) took the photograph and stapled it to the back of the
visa application. The application was then handed over to me.  A line
was immediately formed, in the same order as we entered.  There was more
than enough time to fill out the application, which consisted of
questions like name, address, passport#, etc etc.

It took about 1/2 an hour before the interview process began. There
were about 3 to 4 officers interviewing applicants; initially the
process was fairly sluggish. Coffee breaks were frequent. Since the
interviews were happenning in the same room, one could see everything
that is happenning - the expressions, the nods, the joy ...

There were about 25 people in front of us, about 20 of which were for
the H1 multiple entry visa.  Overall, there might have been about
25-30 Indians.  Slowly and steadily, all of us got our visas without
problems. One sure way for someone to get into trouble is if the
papers are incomplete/inaccurate.  One of the Indians before us had a
problem when the officer got confused by the I-94 form showing F-1. He
then asked the aplicant for his college records, probably thinking
that an F-1 visa was being applied for. Apparently, this applicant did
not have the same, and therefore questioned the officer on the need.
As I later heard, the officer got furious at this, and said that it is
he who needs to say what is required, and not the other way around. We
later saw him furiously stamping the F-1 visa on the passport with a
"Cancelled" stamp. Of course, the H-1 multiple was granted after about
15-20 minutes of confusion. In short, have all the papers right, and
there will be very few questions asked. 

Some of the questions that you could be asked are -
	What is your job description ?
	Till when do you need to stay in US ?
	Why did you come to Mexico to get your visa ? (Some typical answers
		could be - Visiting friends in Univ of Texas at El Paso, OR,  
		need for international travel and lack of time, etc etc)

Since I'm married, and both my wife and me were together, we were
concerned about the "chances". People had offerred very conflicting
advice on whether we should declare the "being married" fact or not.
We decided to stick to the truth and happenned to go to adjacent
counters. My wife declared that the person on the next counter was her
husband. The two officers spoke momentarily, and we were through
without any questions.

Of course, once the visa was granted, we paid the $100 fee to the
cashier and got back to the same officer with the receipt. Half an
hour later, some names were called out, and we got the passports back.

9. Entering US
Take a cab from outside the consulate. Again, the reasonable price to
reach the motel is about $25 to $35. We paid $27 after starting
bargain from $45 !.  Since there are multiple points of entry, you'll
have to ask the cab driver to take you to the place with the least
rush. We went to the Cordova Bridge, although the Juarez downtown was
another option. Actually, you may ask your motel staff about these
tips. Tha cab driver told us that downtown is not a good entry point
because of the heavy rush.

We stopped at the immigration post on the border, where we were asked
to fill another I-94.  The driver waited while this happened, as
included in the cab rate. In fact, he took us into the immigration
post, and showed us the line where we had to stand. It took us about 1
hour at the post, although it could have been longer. We were back at
the motel by 10:15AM. 

One useful point -- Our flight from El Paso was at 5:30PM. Initially,
we were concerned that we might be cutting it too close. However, the
motel staff mentioned that everyone gets back latest by 2:00PM, and we
surele did. You may still want to book a late flight, just to be on the 
safe side.

10. Shopping/Dining in El Paso

We had enough time to do some shopping on Monday.  "El Paso
Saddleblanket" is a nice shop in the downtown, and we spent a couple
of hours there. You could buy some good Mexican/Native American stuff
there. (It is closed on Sundays.)

There is a good Indian restaurant called the "Delhi Palace". We liked
it.  If you like Mexican cuisine, you'll be surprised at the
difference in the preparation. However, the food is good. There is
also an Olive Gardens restaurant, which is always a pleasure.

11. Good luck !

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I doubt if you need to know any more, but if you do, send me email.

Adarsh Pannu
adarsh@sybase.com
510 596-3610
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian