H1B Stamping for International First Year Analyst
Hi everyone, I am international and received my H-1B last year. Haven't been able to go home for 3 years now and really wanted to pay a visit this year or next. In order to do that, I will either go back to my home country (for ~3 weeks) or go to Canada for ~2 weeks to get my work visa stamped/activated. I can WFH the entire time if allowed.
Does anyone have experience or advice on H-1B stamping as an IB analyst? Is it reasonable if I perform well and save up my PTOs and use them next year as a second-year? I just really miss home and want to find a way to make this possible. Would appreciate any input you may have!!
sorry but what does it mean to get it stamped?
It means that the H1B holder needs to go back to their home country (or a third country outside of the US such as Canada or Mexico) and get their visa petition approved at the US Embassy. This cannot be done within the US and the process typically takes a few weeks.
Second year analyst in the same situation. It is a completely reasonable ask. I would make sure your communicate early and often with your staffer and deal teams on limitations wrt managing workload across different time zones.
*you
Thanks so much! This gives me hope.
Since we can't control how long the embassy will take to return the passport, what's the timeline you are planning to tell your firm? Worried if the process gets delayed.
I did the Canada route, albeit as an associate. It's a lot more simple since you're basically just WFH and in the same time zone (or +/- 3 hours max) and the process went basically like any doctor's appointment. You log off for an hour / hour and a half then you work like normal. That way you don't use up any goodwill or create expectations that you'll be working when you go home for vacation.
The big problem is actually getting the appointment. There's a huge backlog because a lot of the H1B holders are doing the Canada route due to quarantine issues in their home countries. I've heard of appointments needing to be scheduled 6 months in advance in some cases
Thanks a lot for your response! Don't know anyone around me who has done this - super glad to know that this can be done!
Was it ever a concern to you that the visa might get "checked" or delayed when you went to Canada? And do you think this is doable when the team is doing a hybrid model / returning fully to office later this year?
I actually did get delayed but on the front end (my appointment was on a Monday, 1 hour before I get an email saying they had to reschedule for Friday). I went just before Christmas and they processed it pretty quickly but that definitely did weigh on my mind. In general, I feel like all other people I know who did it got the visa within the 5 working day post-appointment time frame. Caveat is all the people I know did it pre-COVID (and so did I) so it may be a whole different world out there now
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Very doable - have the new employer file an H-1B Change of Employer (CoE) application to USCIS. Takes about 30 days to clear but just make sure your existing employer doesn't know so they don't withdraw your H-1B
This is a very reasonable request and bank shouldn't have any issues with it. I wouldn't choose Canada just bc it's shorter either, go home if you want to / the WFH hours aren't ridiculous with the time change. You'll also need decent wifi and some sort of monitor setup for that length of time, so keep that in mind.
Just make sure it is flagged to HR as well - sometimes the VDI software will block you from logging in outside the US, so they have to whitelist you onto an international one
Got it, thank you for the advice! I am a Chinese national and the quarantine policy is insanely strict so might have to bet on Canada.
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