New H1B / L1 visa stamping documents checklist by US Consulate Office

Some of you may have got H1B visa petitions approved and thinking of going to visa stamping sometime soon. We start to ask people on what documents to carry for H1B visa stamping and try to get the checklist of documents.  With New H1B visa rules of 2011, seems the document list has expanded and consular officer is looking for more information/ documents than usual for granting visa at the visa interview. Recently, US Consulate General of Hyderabad in India released the check list of documents for H1B or L visa stamping interview. I will share these details below:

List of documents to be carried for H1B/L1 visa stamping

Typically for interview one used to carry just these documents :

• Original Passport
• Photo
• Visa Application forms
• Visa approval Notice and other supporting documents

Now, from employer or the H1B/L1 Sponsor/Petitioner, you are suggested to carry these documents, It does not say mandatory, but says suggested. (Substitute L1 wherever you see H1B for L1 visa holders)

• H1B visa Petition and Supporting docs filed with USCIS
• Employment contract letter signed by you and the H1B visa sponsor
• Your H1B Sponsor’s Income tax returns of last two years and Financial statements
• Notarized list of all the H1B Sponsor’s employees at the listed job site with specified information about each employee.
• H1B sponsor’s  State unemployment  wage reports for wages paid to employees within the state
• Letter from Client company regarding project and copy of contract between H1B sponsor and client with all the details of time of project, agreement, etc
• Copy of contract between H1B sponsor and the job site ( the location where you will work)
• Letter from job site that there is a vacancy for you to work there
• A detail report on the project that you will work on at client including the technical details, time line, current status, employees assigned, etc

You will have to carry these personal documents as applicable

• Your personal license to practice your profession in America
• Original documents of all Academics credentials like degree certificates
• Work experience documents from previous jobs, etc
• Old passport (if any)
• If you were in US, evidence of extension of stay
• If you worked in US before, W2 forms and other tax filings for all those years

In all honesty, the list of the documents that the US consular office suggests to carry to  visa stamping interview is really hard to get.  We do not know the implications of this list of documents posted on their site and how it may impact the visa stamping; they say that it is suggested to carry these documents. We will have to find out and see how things go. Do NOT be scared by looking at the list, talk to your employer and see what they think about it and carry as much as you can.

If you have gone to H1B/L1 visa stamping recently please send me an email with your experience, I will share it with our readers.

Reference :

• VFS Documents Checklist for H1B Visa Stamping 
• Chennai Consulate Visa Documents list 
• Hyderabad H1B , L1 Advanced Submission Documents Checklist