From: sankaran@fester.Princeton.EDU (Dr. Subramanian Sankaran)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: H.1, H.4 questionnaire: summary.
Summary: H.1, H.4 questionnaire: summary.
Keywords: H.1, H.4 multiple entry visa summary
Date: 15 Apr 92 23:31:13 GMT
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@ernie.Princeton.EDU




Hi!
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THIS IS WHAT THE WHOLE SURVEY IS ABOUT:
"Based on these surveys, I believe that it is no longer necessary to
spend so much money and time in going to Mexico and Canada solely 
for the purpose of getting multiple entry visas".
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This is my final posting of the summary of responses to the H-1 H-4
multiple entry visa from India issue.

Yet, if you can, please send in your responses to the questionnaire 
(see below). I will update my file to send to anybody else requesting 
these information.

Contents: 

	1 Original Posting:
	2 Summary of responses:
	3 Excerpts from response letters: 
	4 Acknowledgements and stuff:

                                     
Disclaimer: 
Even if everything goes well everywhere for everybody, I or
anybody mentioned in this posting is not responsible, for,
what is sometimes called - 'your fate'.
If you use the information ... use it cautiously.

 				 ...Subramanian Sankaran.(04/15/92)
		 		 sankaran@phoenix.princeton.edu

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1 Original posting:
----------------
Hi!
Why get a multiple entry visa before going to India?!
What is the current trend? Is it still preferable to go to
Canada/Mexico to get the multiple entry H visas? Please 
send your response to me at sankaran@phoenix.princeton.edu
Will post a summary. 

Please include ... 
1) Visa type.
2) when (date or just month) did you apply?
3) where (city) did you apply?
4) if not in India, why there? Still not sure of ... consulates in India? 
5) if in India, why? Sure of the current trend in the consulates in India? 
6) Any other comments?

Thank you all...                                     ... Subramanian.S.


2 Summary of Responses:
--------------------
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Multiple
Entry
Visa When	Where	reason &comments: 		Name
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H-1 12/91   Qubec,	partially...risk?,		   vijay@ncsa.uiuc.edu
	    Canada	easy to reach US for
			additional docs if needed.


H-1 12/91   Madras	No problems.			   venkat@tinton.ccur.com
							   (Venkat Taramangalam )

H-1 2/21/92 Juarez, 	risk?, From TX, NM, AZ, say, 	   R.gupta@ssdt-tempe.sps.mot.com
	    Mexico	Phoenix to there is easier        (Rajesh Gupta)
			than to a consulate in India.


F-1 12/91-  Madras, 	"rejected in Juraez; & tried in	    kumar@cs.ep.utexas.EDU 
    to	    and 	Madras! Needed friends to get	   (Sundeep Kumar #2)
    01/92   Juraez.	clearance from Juraez; after
			many questions,... got in Madras."


H-4 1/15/92 Delhi      "Hardly any questions asked"  	    kumar@ncsc.org
	

H-1 2/92    Delhi	"...without any problem...	   (kannan@cadence.com)
			...personally felt there was no 
			justification for going to Mexico/Canada 
			just for this purpose..."


H-4 12/91  Bombay	well prepared and no problems      sandeep@unislc.slc.unisys.com
			... suggest to keep pay-stubs 	   Sandeep Kulkarni
			and letter from employer even      (801) 594-4822
			though I did not have to use it

H-4 02/92  Delhi	... without any problems.          pkb@ulysses.att.com (Pradeep)

H-1 03/92  Delhi 	 got ... with no hassle.	   ashish@tfs.COM (Ashish Mukharji)

H-4 01/92  Madras 	... easily obtained her H4 visa    ja43@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu
			with no interview or questions     (Ajay Joseph)


H-4 05/91  Bombay   	... without any problems. She      makarand!makarand@uunet.UU.NET 
			was not asked any questions,      (Makarand Gokhale)
			other than show the documents, 
			H1 petition etc.

H-4  05/91 Bombay	... was asked to pick up her  	  mdn9097@tesla.njit.edu (Manoj)
			visa at 4 p.m.				 908-603-7937



H-4 12/91 Delhi 	had no problems. Seemed like a     kumar@cbvox.att.com 			 		formality.			  (Navaneet Kumar)


H-4 ~01/92 ?		Getting a H4 is a cake walk.       dattatri@sphinx.Metaphor.COM
			needs to apply from(or near)	   (Kayshav)
			her place of residence...
			it's toooooo easy to get H4

 
H-4 12/91 Delhi/Madras  my wife got her visa on Dec 18     Rakesh.Singh@Eng.Sun.COM 			from delhi, as did my apt mate's   (Rakesh Singh)
			from madras

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3 Excerpts from response letters: 
  
-----------------------------------
MY CONCLUSION: Both H-1 and H-4 in India seem to be a very low-risk.
 Documents needed are:

    - Passport
    - H-1 blue forms: approval and change of status. 
                  (you get these with your H-1)
    - Proof of employment/Job details
    - Letter saying company needs the employee 
    - Marraige certificate (for H-4)
    - Proof of money for supporting spouse (Affidavit optional)
    - $100 for each visa in $ or rupees
    - Photo (2x2 or something. They are pretty picky, it seems.)
    - (Suggested) Copy of I-94 (take a copy before
                        handing it over when you depart).
N. K. Shankar shankar@hoh-1.att.com (908) 888-7003
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...
I don't think the job matters much, ... H-1, ... I am an MTS at Bell labs.
pkb@ulysses.att.com (Pradeep)
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 They asked a few routine questions
"what is your educational qualification?", 
"what does your company do?"
 (only (apparently) to make sure I was who I claimed to be.  
FYI, I workas a Systems Analyst - I have a BA in mathematics.  
So you should have no problem at all.)
Ashish Mukharji ashish@tfs.COM
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1.  Was your marriage an arranged or a love marriage?
2.  Who was the priest who conducted the marriage?
3.  What was the date and the place where you got married?
4.  How long have have you known your husband?
5.  Where do you live now, with your parents or with your in-laws?
6.  How many persons are there in your and your husband's family?
7.  What does your father and your father-in-law do for a living?
8.  What is your background or education?
9.  What do you intend to do when you got to the U.S., Study/ be a
    housewife or Work?
10. Which company does your husband work for?
11. Do you know your husband's work address and phone no.?
12. In what position does he work for?
13. What is his address and telephone no. in the U. S.?
14. What is the guarantee that you will come back after completion of
    your husband's H-1 visa?
15. What is your planning to do after he comes back to India?
16. Has your husband applied for labor certification?

<<Documents needed for H-4 Visa:>>

1. I-171 H-1 Approval Petition
2. Passport and a recent photograph
3. Marriage photographs and marriage certificate.
4. Application Fee-25 U. S. Dollars or equivalent currency in Ind. Rs.
5. Letter from company requesting the Consulate to issue her a H-4.
6. Letter of Affidavit/sponsorship
7. Bank Document verifying that you have ___ amount of $$ in your
   account and that you will be supporting her during her stay here.
8. Property documents in India to show attachment and reason for
   returning.
9. Preferably a job letter from India to show that you have a ready
   job when you return<<show a salary of about 5000 Rs./month to
   convince the officer>>
10.Job letter showing your salary and your intent to return.
11.Recent pay stub or 1990 Tax returns.

... mdn9097@tesla.njit.edu 908-603-7937. Manoj
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Dear fellow nett
I didn't take an affidavit of financial support with me though I had
blank sheets of my company letterhead with me just in case it was
needed - The marriage certificate is an implicit financial affidavit
form.
....

All that was asked for in Madras was
1. Wifes passport
2. Marriage Certificate
3. My H1 blue form
I had exactly the rest of the documents which you are planning to take with you
but they didn't ask for it.

-Ajay-- Ajay Joseph <ja43@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu>
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You need original H-1 approval notice, a marriage certificate, an
invitatation card, some marriage photos, or a married name passport.
[[any one of the last four would serve as proof of marriage]]
Good luck 
... Navneet Kumar
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.
THE CONSULAR OFFICER IS, THUS, SPECIFICALLY PRECLUDED FROM CONSIDERING THESE
FACTORS WHEN ADJUDICATING H-1 OR L VISA APPLICATIONS. THE CONSULAR OFFICER
SHALL NOT REFUSE AN H-1 OR L VISA TO AN ALIEN WHO IS IN THE PROCESS OF SEEKING
PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

ty. The appropriate finding of ineligibility
THE CABLE SHOULD PROVIDE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR TO MANY H AND L VISA APPLICANTS,
ESPECIALY IN INDIA, WHERE U.S.CONSULAR OFFICER HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO BE VERY
TOUGH ON TH IMMIGRANT INTENT ISSUE. 
Consider the following example. An
H-1B alien from india has been working as an engineer in th U.S. for
several years. The INS has approved his petition for third preference
classification, but his priority date will not be reached for several more
months. In the meantime his Indian wife wishes to visit him in this country.
In the past, the chances of her being able to obtain an H-4 visa from a post
in India were negligeble. Now assuming a consular officer uses the "common
sense" suggested in this cable, she should have no problem.

Have a nice day
Deepak deepak@ready.eng.ready.com
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we needed the passports, H1 approval form, photographs, marriage cert,
sec. proof of marriage like photos, wedding card etc
for the consulate to apply from i guess the address on your wife's passport 
will matter
-rakesh

My wife got her H-4 from Bombay on Dec 23 91. I was on H-1, with an 
approved labor certificate. It does not make any difference if you have
labor certification or not. The 2 most important documents are - 
original H-1 approval, and the marriage certificate (in English).  
As a precaution, I would very strongly advise your wife to carry your
recent pay-stubs, letter from employer. 
Sandeep Kulkarni 
Phone: (801) 594-4822	Fax: (801) 594-6708
internet: sandeep@unislc.slc.unisys.com  -or- unislc!sandeep
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4 Acknowledgements :
 ------------------

I have included every response that I received.

This survey contains, apart from the responses I received, 
information collected and forwarded to me by
N. K.shankar shankar@hoh-1.att.com (908) 888-7003,
which in turn contained some information collected by
Vijay Balasubramanian vijayb@pk705vmg.vnet.ibm.com. 

Thanks to you and all those who responded.
				    
I thought I would receive around 25 to 50 short responses; I 
got less in number, but I am happy that there were much deeper 
information than what I expected. Instead of collecting any 
more data, I decided to include the reassuring comments from 
many responses here.

Certainly those are not the only comments each of the responses 
contained... many many, in fact too many points are missing from
each of the responses... but I worked in the order I stored my 
mail files and haphazardly deleted stuff whichever I thought was
already mentioned elsewhere. 

Finally, I hope all these together make an useful summary.

    				... Subramanian Sankaran.