H1 Appointment : any consulate

[lalitha_mkr]

Hello Sir,

My brother is working in US and has now come to India.
He is holding H1 in US and now has to get it stamped. He has got H4 stamped in his passport.
He has got an appointment in Chennai in March. When I checked the VFS site, it says,

Indian citizens resident in the USA and applying for a new visa to replace an expiring visa can request an appointment at any of the four visa sections

Can he get an appointment in New Delhi or Calcutta?
(he has H1B from US now and needs to get it stamped on his passport. His case is not replacing an expiring visa because his H4 is valid till 2007 and the H1 he holds also is valid till 2007 only )

Has anybody gone through this? Please help.
I have mailed my query to US consulate, VFS and TTS. But am not getting an answer for what am asking.

Thanks,
LL

[yuvayuva]

Lalitha, he can get an emergency appointment at any consulate as under the Indian working in US exemption. He will have to email VFS to do this.

[Veena_swsh]

Returning workers will qualify for emergency appointments at all 4 consulates. The process of making the appointment is the same except that you will have to tick the appropriate category (returning worker, in your case) under which you qualify.

[anilkumar246]

Hello Madam,

Yes, as far as I know, your brother can go to any US consulate or Embassy in India. In my case, I was replaced my old visa (valid until 2006) with the new one. I had gone to India on Oct 18th, 2005, and next day walked into VFS office for my appointment under emergency quota, as I am a returning H1B worker. Same rule applies for extension of Visa also.

I got an appointment at New Delhi next week (Though I fall under Chennai Consular district and also same H1B returning worker rule applies) and everything went on smooth.

So, as far as I know, your brother can go to any consulate or embassy, but he has to get an appointment, which can be done by walking into VFS office at Chennai.

Note : Whatever I said above is purely from my case context and want you to enquire again with VFS or Consulate about your questions.

The best thing is, tell him to walk into any of VFS office and schedule for an appointment personally.

SAK