Conference call details

Freinds,

If you have attended the visa in Nogales or elsewhere OR if you are planning to attend the visa soon in Nogales, please join the call and share your experiences and guide others. Pass on this info for people seeking help in forums.

Date : Thu 02/14/08
Time: 10:00 PM Arizona Time (GMT - 7:00)
Dial-in Number: 1-712-580-1800
Passcode: 647778

Adios!

While you are waiting for visa @ Nogales

• The best place to stay is Fray Marcos De Niza
• The restaurant inside the hotel has Indian Rice (though the menu doesn't have it)
• Just walk towards the border and you can get some corn with spicy salsa and lemon just like in India
• There is a place called Jugos da Liquidos where you get fresh squeezed juices and fruit platters.
• You can go to Nogales Mall which is closer to the consulate. There is also a Walmart closer to it.
• As the Nogales Mall, Walmart, Consulate, Pizza place and bowling places are at same location, you can take the bus RUTA 14 which will charge you only 40 cents compared to the cab which charges you $8.00 USD. But, if you are in a hurry cab is the best.
• On your way to Nogales mall, there is a bowling place and Peter Piper and Dominos pizza.
• Lot of playing cards and poker chips are available from seniors :)
• *** Always try to be back to the hotel by 8 PM.

TIPS to know

• Arrive at Tucson airport no later than 7:00 PM as the shuttle services close at 8:00 PM
• Check the forums (murthy.com forums) to find the current situation at the consulate.
• Prepare for the worst case and pack your clothes and scandals.
• Talk to your agent as soon as you can and know exactly what services you need from him rather than taking the whole package.
• Contact any friends through forums to see if you can plan together and save money.
• While going to the appointment, do not carry cellphones, electronics, chap sticks, extra belongings as they may not allow them into the consulate.
• Most cell phones work in the Lobby, but be cautious as most carriers charge $1 per minute. Some people paid hundreds of dollars without knowing this fact.
• 
  **Traveling to Canada, Mexico for less than thirty days.
  If you have an expired H1B visa stamp or if you have an expired U.S. nonimmigrant visa of any other type (e.g. B, F, J) and you have a valid I-94 card stating your current valid H1B status, your visa will be considered automatically revalidated when you re-enter the U.S. from Canada or Mexico as long as ALL of the following are true:
  you have only been in Canada or Mexico for less than 30 days
  you have with you a current I-94 card stating your valid H1B status
  you do not apply for a visa while in Canada or Mexico
  you are not from one of the countries currently considered by the U.S. to be state sponsors of terrorism (as of 11/11/02 this includes Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, North Korea and Cuba)
  For this automatic revalidation to apply to you, you must be careful to keep your I-94 card when leaving the U.S. to enter Canada or Mexico for a trip of less than 30 days. Present you I-94 card along with your valid passport, original Form I-797A (H1B Approval Notice for your current position) and a letter from your employer confirming current employment in the position described in the H-1B petition.

Recent cases @ Nogales

Most people were visiting Nogales just a week before their India trip and were struck here and have to cancel/postpone their trips. Some people were really in bad shape as they had their own marriages scheduled. Please plan accordingly and be ready for the worst case scenario in case you have no option to skip the appointment at Nogales. Hopefully things will get better soon.

Case 1:

One of the H1-B holder from a big sized company was asked to wait for the PIMS update and after the update has been done, the visa officer asked him to call his company owner. The company owner attempted to talk to the consular officers and conference with their attorney to answer all the questions and provide any documents they needed but they didn't agree for it. Finally, the owner/CEO of the company came to Nogales, Mexico and attended the interview with the consular officer and below are the questions he was asked:
How do you pay the consultant? Why did you send your employee to Nogales for stamping? Why don't you hire Mexicans in your company? How much do you pay your consultant? Checked the following documents - quarterly tax returns, company agreement with the vendor (if not direct client), company pictures and some other company related documents. They recommened not to send employees to Noglaes and to send them to Canada for stamping and finally gave the visa for the H1-B holder.

Case 2: Currently the PIMS is taking around 5 working days and a group of 5 people got their visas after 5 days.

Case 3: One guy was waiting for almost 12 days and finally called the DOS and raised a ticket and also called up the consulate to check the status. As it took even more than the expected 5 to 7 working days, they gave it to him on the same day, ie. 12th day.

Case 4: Couple of guys got their PIMS cleared in 2 business days, but they were put on hold for security clearance which is expected to take any where around 2 to 4 weeks.



Will keep updating the cases as we know. You can post your case here in the comments section and help others.

PIMS check

There is a new administrative process called PIMS (Petition Information Management System), which has been introduced recently and the consulate centers have started implementing it since Dec '07. This new process is causing a delay in issuing visas especially for H1 and L1 categories. Most of the times, they claim that this PIMS check will take around 5 working days (the American consulate in Mexico celebrates both American and Mexican holidays), but there are some cases where it took even more than that. The main objective of the PIMS is to verify the employer information and your identity in the company.

To avoid these delays, please send a scanned copy of your I797 to nogalesvisas@state.gov atleast two weeks prior to your appointment date so that the consular officer has enough time to update the PIMS and have it ready before your arrival. Even before this, you can call the respective consulate office and check if the PIMS data for your company is updated in their database.
The contact number for Nogales Consulate is 011 - 52 - (631)-313-4820 (Nogales, Mexico number) and DOS (Department Of State, US number) is (202)-663-1225
When you call them, press "1" and then press "0" for an operator.

Below is a sample email that you can send to the consulate with your H1-B scanned copies.

Dear Consulate Officer,

I am Abc (your name), working as a Programmer Analyst(Your designation as on your H1-B or LCA) on H1B with xxx(your company name). I scheduled an appointment at Nogales Consulate for getting my H1-B visa stamped on (appointment date) and my confirmation number is below:

xxx: NOG 00 00 00 00 00 000099999

I would like to know if my PIMS check is already cleared for my I-129 petitions. I am attaching scanned copy of approval of I-797 as pdf file to this mail.

Attachments: 1. xxx1 H1.pdf


Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
xxx

On the day of your appointment

• On the day of your appointment take a cab at the hotel and ask for American Consulate (Consulado Americano) which is around 10 minutes drive and you will be charged approximately $7 USD.
• Once you reach the consulate, you will be checked for the correctness and completeness of your documents while standing in the line outside.
• After your documents are checked, you will be allowed to enter inside where you will have a basic security check. They will not allow remote car keys, combs, cell phones, any electronics, flash drives, any food/drink, any sharp objects, chap sticks etc. There is a store nearby who can save them for you. You can just give them a $1 and a Muchas Gracias (Thank you very much).
• Next, you will be directed to a counter, where you will need to submit your I-797, DS-156, DS-157 and DS-158 forms, Banamex DD, passport and you will be given a token number.
• When you token number is displayed on the screen, it will also display the counter number you need to visit (just like in DMV).
• At the counter, your info will be entered into the database; finger printing and picture will be taken.
• Again, you will be asked to sit in front of the counters to be called by the consular officer.
  This time, the same token number will be used to call you for the interview by the consular officer.
• Once your token is displayed on the screen, you will have to visit the displayed counter for your visa interview.If you are issued a visa on the same day, you will need to pick your visa in the noon at around 3 PM else you need to check with them on when your visa will be given.

From TUCSON to Nogales, Mexico

• You need to fly to Tucson airport (TUS) which is the closest to Nogales, Mexico.
• If you rent a car, drive from Tucson to Nogales, Arizona until the border; park your car at the border for around $5 a day.
• Or you can also take a shuttle at the Tucson airport to reach Nogales Mexico border which will cost you approximately $10.00 USD. All the shuttle services close at 8:00 PM, so it’s better to be in Tucson airport by 7:30 PM or before. For any cab/shuttle services after 8:00 PM, they will charge you around $100 to $150 USD.
• At the border you will have signs to Mexico and walk into the round gates to enter Nogales, Mexico. (The US-Mexico border divides Nogales into two and the city in US comes under Arizona where as the other part in Mexico comes under Sonora, Mexico)
• Take a cab and go the nearby hotel, which is Fray Marcos De Niza. The cost for one night is approx. $54. Ask for a room with WI-FI access as only some rooms have that.

Agent services @ Nogales

Agent services to assist you with the logistics

1. Manu, Best Western Inn.

He is the person we got introduced during our stay in Nogales and he is the owner of Best Western Inn at Nogales, Arizona. He is a friendly Indian guy and can assist you with the Banamex DD, as well as your stay in Nogales, Arizona on the day prior to your appointment. He will also assist you with the transportation to and from the consulate and to the Nogales, Mexico. He can be reached at : 520-331-8181/520-223-0299. His pricing differs based on the service requested.

2. NVS International

URL: http://nogalesvisaservices.com/

Pricing Details: $325 per person

Services Provided:

Visa application (Bank Draft) fee processing service.
Logistics: Assistance with transportation from the Tucson International Airport to Nogales and within Mexico to the U.S. Consulate in Nogales Mexico. The nearest airport to Nogales is the Tucson International Airport--Tucson, AZ. It is recommended that everybody plan on flying in to the Tucson Airports as the trip from Tucson to Nogales is approximately 50 minutes as opposed to 3 hours from Phoenix to Nogales.
Hotel accommodations at our headquarters- Hotel Fray Marcos de Niza.
We count with a full bilingual staff that will assist and make your visit to Nogales Mexico as safe, simple and worry free as possible.
*Note: We offer better deals when traveling in groups.



3. Mexico Assistance Services

URL:
http://www.mexico-assistance.com/1PrepaidUSVisaAppFee.html

Pricing Details:

Prepaid visa application fee service - Click here to see how to make use of this service
$60.00
Add $5.00 service fee for each additional person
Visa application fee $105.00 per person
This service fee already includes FedEx 2nd Day Shipping anywhere in the continental U.S.
Please add $10.00 if you require FedEx Standard Overnight
Please add $25.00 if you require FedEx Priority Overnight and/or Saturday Delivery


Services Provided:
M.A.S. can assist you with prepaying your U.S. visa application fee which is required for attending your interview with the U.S. consulate in Mexico. This service is provided for clients who do not have the payment made at the Banamex Bank in Mexico.


4. Mexico Immigration Consultants

URL:

http://mexicoimmigrationconsultants.com/NOGALESCONSULATETRIP.html

Pricing details:

$329.00, two or more persons
$379.00, one person

Included in the Package:
· Banamex DD visa application fee payment
· Round trip courtesy shuttle from selected hotels in Nogales Arizona, to the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
· Assistance by bilingual agent whom stay with you until you finish the whole processAssistance in obtaining your I-94 in the fastest border.

Documents Required

• Appointment letter print out.
• Passport – (Old/New with I-94 cards in it)
• DS-156 application with a 2’’ X 2’’ photo affixed to it. This needs to be filled online as it generates a bar code which will help in faster processing of your application.
• DS-157 - Though DS-157 is only for males; here they ask it even for females also. For item#9 which asks you to list all the countries you visited in the last ten years, add all the countries you visited in your transit too. And, if you have visited any country multiple times (ex. your home country), you have to enter all the years of your visit.
• DS-158 is something they ask for everyone even though it is not asked at all consulates.
• I-797 – If it is for extension, get your old H1-B(s) also.
• Banamex DD receipt. This is for an amount of $131.00 and you might be charged a service fees of $3. This can be obtained at the Banamex bank closer to the consulate, but it opens only at 9:00 AM and even if your appointment is at 8:00 AM, you can just relax and go to the interview. You can take a cab at the border and the same guy will stop you at the Banamex bank and after you take the DD, you will be taken to the consulate and all for approximately $15 - 20. They take it easy even if you are late to the consulate by 1:30 hrs. This can be obtained anywhere in Mexico irrespective of your appointment location. You can even use any of the agent services to get this done.
• Letter of employment, which should include hiring date, salary and position.
• Employment agreement copy - with your signature and your employer's signature on it.
• Your employer company profile
• Your company (employer's company) photos - both inside and outside. Recently consular officers started asking these pics.
• Pay stubs (3 to 6 should be good) and W-2’s as many as you can bring.
• Bank statements for the past 3 months to which your pay check is deposited every month.
• Copy of LCA (Labor Condition Application) – certified by your attorney or any authorized person.
• Copy of I-129 - certified by your attorney or any authorized person.
• Any utility bill in the US showing your address (ex. cell bill, electricity bill, Driver's license, your bank stmt will also help if it has your current address)
• All your education transcripts and degrees (Bachelors degree and above)
• SSN Card, EAD card (if applicable), I-20’s (if applicable) and any other official documents related to your education/profession.
• Your manager's name and phone number at client's place, your client's name and address.
• Your updated resume.