H-1B visa appointment in Paris - Parent of US citizen

[blagrens 0]

Hi everyone,

 

My wife and I are both on H-1B status. We are planning a trip to France in December, and both of us have appointments at the embassy to get H-1B stamps (renewal for me, first stamp for my wife). We have heard that the Paris embassy (as many others) are only processing Visas for a small categories of people, including parents of US citizens under 21. It seems that most appointments are otherwise being cancelled, sometimes just a few weeks before the appointment date.

 

In our case, we are the parents of a US citizen born in June 2021. However we submitted our DS-160s and requested our embassy appointments in April 2021, therefore there is no mention in our form that we are parents of minor US citizen. As such we are worried that our appointments would be cancelled like so many others. We are trying to figure out how to make sure that our appointments are not cancelled, owing to the fact that we are parents of a US citizen child.

 

I have called the appointment call center to see if they could add a mention or amend our file in any way, but they cannot as they only have authority to schedule appointments. The only piece of advice I got was to fill out a new DS-160 and ask for a new appointment, but these days first available appointments at the Paris embassy are >June 2022.

 

I am wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation? ie. requesting an appointment for a NIV at an embassy while being the parent of a US citizen child? If so could you share your experience? 

Any phone number or email that we could write to explain our situation?

Was anyone able to amend a DS-160 while keeping the same appointment (adding US child dependent)? If so how did you proceed?

Any advice to our current situation?

 

Thanks a lot for any insights or advice on this matter.

 

Kind regards,

[Crazy Cat 41,974]

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Edited August 10, 2021 by Lucky Cat

[JeanneAdil 6,539]

Why not apply to extend here in US?

What visa is wife on if this will be first H-1b?

[arken 4,197]

My two cents:

Don't get surprised if it gets cancelled. I'd assume your travel to France be considered a leisure and  would not fall under emergency conditions that the embassy is keeping appointments for so one can travel to USA. Parents of US citizens could be granted visa or at least show up for the interview so they can be together. You are already together with your USC child and your visa application is for work not for family. One can extend and/or apply for change of status within the US. Not utilizing the granted benefits and traveling abroad and then claiming emergency case for visa appointment may not be successful imo.

[blagrens 0]

 

3 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

Why not apply to extend here in US?

What visa is wife on if this will be first H-1b?

Hi Jeanne,

My H-1B renewal was approved and my status is valid for another 2 years as long as I don't leave the country. The way I understood it, when I leave the country I need to go to an embassy to get a stamp.

My wife was on F1 visa, and moved to H-1B in 2020. Her current status is H-1B, but she does not have a visa stamp. Likewise, she needs to get a stamp if/when she leaves the country.

 

2 hours ago, arken said:

My two cents:

Don't get surprised if it gets cancelled. I'd assume your travel to France be considered a leisure and  would not fall under emergency conditions that the embassy is keeping appointments for so one can travel to USA. Parents of US citizens could be granted visa or at least show up for the interview so they can be together. You are already together with your USC child and your visa application is for work not for family. One can extend and/or apply for change of status within the US. Not utilizing the granted benefits and traveling abroad and then claiming emergency case for visa appointment may not be successful imo.

Thank you for your opinion. I agree this could be risky indeed; we're trying to gauge the risks and decide on cancelling or maintaining our trip. I know several people from my company who traveled for leisure (family visit) to India recently, and claimed an emergency appointment on the basis of their US child once there. It worked in all the cases I've heard, but I can indeed see how it could go the other way.

[JeanneAdil 6,539]

so don't leave the US /apply here for any extensions

traveling now and depending on a US embassy to see u is scary

We were in Paris and left March 17th just 1 and 12 hours before the airport shut down and you don't want to be in that situation