shall I renew passport before stamping?

[Dhimant Bhundia]

Hi all,

I need some urgent help on renewing my passport. Please suggest.

I have applied to H1 in last cycle - April 2012. I got first RFE and now RFE is cleared. I got approval. Next step is visa stamping. Now, my passport is expiring on Dec 2013. just after 10 months and I have some time before I go for visa stamping. Shall I renew my passport right now? I heard following things..

1) since I have given my current passport for processing I need to do stamping on the same passport. -- Is it true?
2) At the time of stamping, passport expiry date should be greater than 6 months -- is it true?

Please suggest shall i renew my passport right now or later?

Regards,
Dhimant B.