Urgent, pls help.Landing in Canada- H1B stamping needed?

[toronto h1b boy]

Hi. I'm sorry if this has been asked before.
My landing expiration on COPR is October 2018.
I'm on H1B in DC, i-140 approved, PD 2013. Never went to India since I came to the US for masters.

Do I need to get my visa stamped in Canada considering I will be back mostly the same day?
Is stamping exempt?

 

[DEEPCUR]

Stamping is not required if you have a valid i94 in your petition. Google automatic visa revalidation. Explore this H1b forum, and you will tons of experiences on it.

 

[toronto h1b boy]

Thanks DeepCur for the instantaneous response! Yes i googled and did some research.
So from what I read, is it safe to assume there will be no problems for H1B folks to land in Canada? Like denied at port of entry in US etc?

 

[Samoinp]

Hi. I'm sorry if this has been asked before.
My landing expiration on COPR is October 2018.
I'm on H1B in DC, i-140 approved, PD 2013. Never went to India since I came to the US for masters.

Do I need to get my visa stamped in Canada considering I will be back mostly the same day?
Is stamping exempt?

Is your last stamped visa valid and not expired?

 

[VOBuckeye]

Stamping is not required if you have a valid i94 in your petition. Google automatic visa revalidation. Explore this H1b forum, and you will tons of experiences on it.

Doesn't AVR only work if you haven't changed visa class? He came in as F1 and is now H1. From my understanding you can only use AVR if you're coming back in the last visa class that you used to enter.

 

[VOBuckeye]

Thanks DeepCur for the instantaneous response! Yes i googled and did some research.
So from what I read, is it safe to assume there will be no problems for H1B folks to land in Canada? Like denied at port of entry in US etc?

My experience was similar to yours. I had no issues coming back after Canada PR landing but I had to get a new H1B visa stamp as I had switched from F1 to H1. AVR would not have applied to so I needed to come back with the correct visa.
You might want to check with your company's attorney.

 

[DEEPCUR]

Doesn't AVR only work if you haven't changed visa class? He came in as F1 and is now H1. From my understanding you can only use AVR if you're coming back in the last visa class that you used to enter.

It has worked for this person..

//Yes you can use it. I used it last year and it worked without any questions from the officer at the POE. I flow into and out of Toronto. I had my F1 expired visa on an old passport. I had a change of status to H-1B since my last entrance to the states. So I gave my old + New passport, expired F1 visa, both I-94 AND I797. I had no problems at all.

The only question the officer asked me to swear that I did not leave Canada. //

http://www.trackitt.com/usa-discussion-forums/i485-eb/159527615/question-on-automatic-visa-revalidation/page/2

 

[greencard14]

It has worked for this person..

//Yes you can use it. I used it last year and it worked without any questions from the officer at the POE. I flow into and out of Toronto. I had my F1 expired visa on an old passport. I had a change of status to H-1B since my last entrance to the states. So I gave my old + New passport, expired F1 visa, both I-94 AND I797. I had no problems at all.

The only question the officer asked me to swear that I did not leave Canada. //

http://www.trackitt.com/usa-discussion-forums/i485-eb/159527615/question-on-automatic-visa-revalidation/page/2

Though I believe class of visa doesn't matter for AVR, that post is from 2009 and things might have changed in the past 9 years.

 

[justinline]

I did F1 to H1 AVR while back, only had F1 stamped and I797. It is allowed but, CBP officer he or she should know about it.
It was bit of fight for me, I was sitting in the secondary inspection for almost couple of hours.

I am talking about circa 2011-2012, so my experience is little bit dated.

 

[DEEPCUR]

Though I believe class of visa doesn't matter for AVR, that post is from 2009 and things might have changed in the past 9 years.

AVR documentation in CBP website doesn't mention anything about change in visa class. In the same thread, I also saw some experiences in 2013 - 2014 time frame. You could dig in to that.

 

[babup]

Hi. I'm sorry if this has been asked before.
My landing expiration on COPR is October 2018.
I'm on H1B in DC, i-140 approved, PD 2013. Never went to India since I came to the US for masters.

Do I need to get my visa stamped in Canada considering I will be back mostly the same day?
Is stamping exempt?

Hi, I am also looking to do the same thing but want to be back before July 18 as my H1B expires. Is there any risk?

 

[maddymaddy]

Hi, I am also looking to do the same thing but want to be back before July 18 as my H1B expires. Is there any risk?

Hi,
I suggest to do it asap. do it as much before your visa expiry as possible. Just my thoughts.

 

[Samoinp]

Hi, I am also looking to do the same thing but want to be back before July 18 as my H1B expires. Is there any risk?

What risk are you talking about? Just try to avoid last week check in to avoid any other situations like medicals, emergency etc. I did not even want to go snowboarding before my check-in, would have hated to pick up any serious injury and miss check-in date.

FYI, early morning landing around 6:00 AM in toronto was a bliss, everything was done within an hour. One can't apply for SIN in weekends in Toronto airport. It seems they are closed.

 

[maddymaddy]

Hi,
I suggest to do it asap. do it as much before your visa expiry as possible. Just my thoughts.

Hi, sorry for typo. My H-1B visa is already expired . I want to use avr option while returning from Canada. Did anyone use avr option recently ? Mind sharing how the experience was ?

 

[maddymaddy]

What risk are you talking about? Just try to avoid last week check in to avoid any other situations like medicals, emergency etc. I did not even want to go snowboarding before my check-in, would have hated to pick up any serious injury and miss check-in date.

FYI, early morning landing around 6:00 AM in toronto was a bliss, everything was done within an hour. One can't apply for SIN in weekends in Toronto airport. It seems they are closed.

Hi, sorry for the incorrect message. My H-1B visa is already expired . I wanted to use avr option while returning from Canada before my pr visa expires. Did anyone use avr option recently ? Mind sharing how the experience was ?