H1 blue slip from Mumbai with comments

[bluehat]

Bluehat,

did you get any response from consulate after your petition is reaffirmed? also your case has been updated in PIMS?

VFS just replied with -

Dear Sir/Madam,

As per the US Consulate the post will contact you directly when they receive the notification of reaffirmed petition from the USCIS.



Still waiting. Frustrated for this unneccessary waiting. They dint say anything about PIMS

[blue_wait]

Last week I e-mailed to VFShelpdeskmumbai to know the status of my application.
They asked me to e-mail the scanned copy of 221g blue slip.
It's been 1 week now..I haven't heard anything back from US consulate mumbai..
earlier I was getting reply's in 2-3 days....

@abhi1985
I am too waiting for last 2 and half months and last week got an email to send the 221g scanned copy. After sending no reply yet. Please do let me know if u have any updates.

[nit_2012]

Any update

Hi 221g followers,

Any update on your case.....

From this forum I found that many of the extension are going for 221g,,, Not new application,

Anyway,

I am still waiting for the docs from employer.. My bad employer.. Its been 3 weeks....now

Employer is killing me than consulate....

@abhi1985
I am too waiting for last 2 and half months and last week got an email to send the 221g scanned copy. After sending no reply yet. Please do let me know if u have any updates.

[soneo]

221(g) Blue (horror) story with a happy end.

Hello Everyone,

I have been monitoring this thread/forum from 21st Jan 2012 since my spouse got a 221(g) when she applied for an H4. Mine was a new H1B and a COS, 3 months old, no stamp, evc model, very small company. I sent her with 2 paystubs - Mumbai Consulate @ BKC.

The H4 interview was cool, but at the end she was handed 221(g) with requested docs - "Petition, Client contracts, letter, organizational hierarchy, internal development project" - basically all employer related docs.

We submitted all docs on 5th Feb 2012 and waited.. 5 weeks passed by without a response. (The worst mental torture a human being can ever take).

But, on 15th Mar 2012, we got the email from consulate to submit her passport which came back stamped in 4 business days.


Moral of the story: (only for consultants/contractors)
==============

1) DO NOT, I mean DO NOT apply for an "H" visa (H1/H4) if your situation does not meet Valid Employer-Employee Relationship as described in 2010 USCIS Neufold Memo (Google this if you dont know)

2) DO NOT apply for an "H" (H1/H4) visa until you are sure you will be able to prove (1) with documents from employer and client (Client letter is a must that describes relationship/control with you along with your job duties).

3) DO NOT even dream of getting a US visa if it is sponsored by an IT Staffing/Placing Company either in US or India. Such companies are called "body shops" by US authorities. These companies fool USCIS with supporting docs, but are not able to maintain the same during the course of employment. Most of these companies are audited by DOS and they know "exactly" what they do, hence the moment you go for interview, you will surely get 221(g) or denial. (whole history of your company is in their database)


Whos to blame ?
=============

1) Employers! A**holes to the core!! They are the real culprits. Inspite of knowing all the rules, they put careers and aspirations of innocent engineers to risk to make money. They are not prepared with proper documentation. At the end only the engineers suffer and the company will continue to show the "US on-site, earn in dollar" carrot to trap someone else...

2) No one else!!!


Stop blaming the United States. Blame our own people for doing massive fraud in H1B/L1B and exploiting liberal and tolerant western immigration laws. they "f**ked" the system in the last decade. USCIS and DOS has given clear guidelines to all H1B employers of what to expect when you will apply for a visa abroad. Its just that our employers dont care to tell us the same, they ignore us our future, else we will not take the contract or switch companies. The TRUTH is never told.

Considering the volume of visa's applied and kind of fraud to expect, DOS is doing a great job, much much better than our government can do.

So many people came back to India for vacation and got stuck and were never able to return. So many H4 denied, H1B denied. Their employers knew all the rules, but didnt care to share or tell them the consequences else the consultant would leave the company (obviously!!). The employers never care to share all details and risks involved in stamping before applying for visa.. they dont f**king care!




I wish I knew all this before I got into this mess... and in the end - I guess I was just LUCKY!

[ashman2012]

General Question:

1. What is blue slip in general (may be missing docs, I guess)

2. It is only given to consultants/contractors OR even it is given to people who are having full time in companies like eBay/Yahoo ?

[ssbreddy]

US Citizen 15 month Baby to H1B interview

Hi Andy123,

Saw your post on 221g Mumbai and you had mentioned that you took your 15 months old daughter to the interview. Did they allow the baby inside, looks like they did and we are also in the same situation. Me and My wife both are going for H1B stamping from different employer and wanted to check if we can get along our 17 moth old son to the consulate for the interview and what documents should we carry for him. Just the US passport or more?

Also carrying the baby did help in anyways? like getting preference to move forward in the line/queue? different treatment by the VO?

Please help and guide us in this regards.

Thanks in advance.

Hi all :
I have been following this forum since the start of my case back in December 2011 and wanted to contribute something positive to this thread about the 221g which is becoming a common case across all US embassies in India.

Year 7 of h1b, I 140 approved by previous consulting company when I visited Indian in December 2011 for stamping .

Dec 12th 2011 - visa intw, EVC model, got 221g with list of documents from employer and employee.
Dec 29th 2011 - submitted all documents including client letter

Jan 6th 2012 - dated from uscis that visa is denied and h1b petition sent back to Kentucky center for possible revocation. We got this letter not through email but through regular mail on jan 20th.

Talked with **** ** attorney, they said best case scenario to return back is direct employment with American company. In my consulting carrer, I had worked with American clients, contacted all of them to see if they have permenant positions open. If your work was noticed when you worked as a consultant, you have higher chance of getting success in getting resposnsored by American firms.

American employer filed papers for direct employment. New h1b receipt date was feb 24th 2012 and got approved feb 27th 2012. American employer has less than 50% h1b...very imp to note.

They sent papers to us, we went for appointment today again morning. Mumbai consulate in both cases. They asked what does company do and what's your role and confirmed asking that it was direct employment and nobody in between. My previous 2 candidates for the same window got 221g on the spot, one was an h4 lady and another h1. We took our 15 mnth old us citizen daughter and her first question was was the child us citizen. 2 mins she read my previous denial case and 3 questions afterwards, she said, our visa is approved and took our passports to get in 1-2 days.

In a nutshell, EVC models and consulting companies are getting 221g by default, you cannot escape it and it is sometimes painful to go through the process. If you plan to stamp in India, keep yourself with backup options before making the trip. There was another colleges of mine who knew this was happening and went to us consulate in Canada and got stamped with EVC model. Maybe that can work for you also if you choose to give that shot.

All in all, have a positive attitude about everything and very scenario, and look for solutions in every situation , you will come back stronger.

Hope this thread helped people to get more clarity. All the best.

[ashman2012]

I dont under if they need any additional documents from petitioner, why dont they give RFE and ask before approving H1B ?

[vijayvisausa]

still pending...

@Ashman2012 in my case i had REF and it was replied and approved 2 years ago and my H1b extended for next 3 yrs. I came to india on a vacation in Dec 2011 with my wife and 1 yr old US born kid and got stuck with 221g since then. It's almost more than 3 months now and they still processing the approved case.

It doesn't make any sense to hold people back in their home country who applied for visa renewal and who are on a short vacation unless they have decided to make sure people loose their client,projects,apartment,car and at the end their JOB. By delaying the process this is going to happen anyways.

In the forum i read few people cases sent back to USCIS and got reaffirmation but still they did hear nothing from the consulate....thats very strange. But i read few positive cases as well. As far as my case is concern i am totally in dark . I really do not know whats going on and what they are upto. At the end lets hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

[g1984]

Still Pending

I have been waiting to hear from the consulate since December 13, 2011. My employer is trying to send an email to VFS helpline but since last two days, their mails are bouncing back because [email protected] mailbox is full. Is anyone facing the same problem?

[Andy123]

Us citizen 15 mnth baby to intw

Hi ssbreddy,
Yes, taking your child will allow you to go to a separate line and get it done faster. Our appt was scheduled for 10, we reached there by 830, outside line was decent, but once we got checked in where they asked how old was baby to get the token number, our appt happened within 10 mins of it. From what we understood, you are given different token number from people without kids as the starting letter of the token number differs. We took her birth certificate and us passport but none of it was asked. They just asked if she was us citizen and how old was she.

I wish your family the best. Even if my post helps one family to get through, I am happy with my contribution. Do post your good news soon.







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

Hi Andy123,

Saw your post on 221g Mumbai and you had mentioned that you took your 15 months old daughter to the interview. Did they allow the baby inside, looks like they did and we are also in the same situation. Me and My wife both are going for H1B stamping from different employer and wanted to check if we can get along our 17 moth old son to the consulate for the interview and what documents should we carry for him. Just the US passport or more?

Also carrying the baby did help in anyways? like getting preference to move forward in the line/queue? different treatment by the VO?

Please help and guide us in this regards.

Thanks in advance.

[abhi1985]

@g1984

I am waiting since 23rd dec.
Last week I tried to e-mail vfshelpdeskmumbai to know the status of my application but all my e-mails were bouncing back.

[waitingsincejanuary2012]

Passport stuck in Consulate

Hello,

I had my second H1B stamping interview on January 3 2012 at mumbai consulate. I am direct employee of a large chemical company(in US since 2003). I was handed over Green 221g and asked to submit few documetns related to research and job profile. My CEAC barcode appeared on february 9, 2012. My wife and I have submitted passsport on February 10, 2012 for stamping at VFS location. As of now (march 27, 2012) we are still waiting to get our passport back from consulate. The passport tracking system is useless and shows “under process at US consulate”. Does anybody knowshow much time it takes to get passport back from consulate after completion of 221G? Is this normal delay?
Contacting VFS several times is also useless. Does anybody know if there is any other mechanism to find out what is happening. I am very tensed as my job is at stake.
Any suggestion would be a great help.

Regards,

[g1984]

I called them this morning to inquire about this problem and they mentioned that the issue has been resolved. But, when my employer tried to send an email few hours ago, their email bounced with the error message which says that the mailbox is full.

Did you call them to know about this issue last week? What was their response?

@g1984

I am waiting since 23rd dec.
Last week I tried to e-mail vfshelpdeskmumbai to know the status of my application but all my e-mails were bouncing back.

[ashman2012]

@Ashman2012 in my case i had REF and it was replied and approved 2 years ago and my H1b extended for next 3 yrs. I came to india on a vacation in Dec 2011 with my wife and 1 yr old US born kid and got stuck with 221g since then. It's almost more than 3 months now and they still processing the approved case.

It doesn't make any sense to hold people back in their home country who applied for visa renewal and who are on a short vacation unless they have decided to make sure people loose their client,projects,apartment,car and at the end their JOB. By delaying the process this is going to happen anyways.

In the forum i read few people cases sent back to USCIS and got reaffirmation but still they did hear nothing from the consulate....thats very strange. But i read few positive cases as well. As far as my case is concern i am totally in dark . I really do not know whats going on and what they are upto. At the end lets hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

when you got RFE for the very first time, were you a consultant ?

[vijayvisausa]

Yes I am a consultant working at a client site for EVC model. I got REF during my H1b Extension to show E-E relationship and got approved in 2 months..After 2 yrs i came on vacation and got stuck here .....still waiting