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My wife is here on an H-1B. The U.S. requires such visa holders from her country to renew their stamp yearly (even though the H-1B remains active) if she wants

by bmitc 4y ago

My wife is here on an H-1B. The U.S. requires such visa holders from her country to renew their stamp yearly (even though the H-1B remains active) if she wants to be able to leave the U.S., such as even visiting Canada, and be able to return. This stamp must be processed in her home country at a U.S. Consulate. During 2020, we happened to be in China during January on vacation, visiting family, and of course renewing the stamp on her visa. Because the U.S. banned visa holders from entering the U.S. as a "response" to COVID, it was over 15 months before I saw her again. The fact that she needs to renew the stamp yearly allows the U.S. to keep their options open in terms of refusing to allow valid H-1B workers to re-enter for whatever arbitrary reason, such as the case of my wife. It's always been mind-boggling that this is required rather than processing it here. She had studied and worked here in the U.S. for over half a decade, had an apartment, had a car, and had a job at a U.S. headquartered company at the time she wasn't allowed back in. This is why these stamps need to be done in the U.S. It removes a lever for the U.S. to politicize and hold hostage current H-1B holders as well as removing massive inefficiencies in the immigration processes. The fact that it isn't like that added literally years of delay in our life.

z9znz 4y ago
The COVID situation and the very unusual lockins and lockouts are irrelevant to this topic, as stamp or not, she would still have not been allowed back into the US during that period (unless she had full US citizenship). And my point is that the logistic issues about stamps are a side issue, with the real issue being the [mis|over]use of H1-B in the first place. This also isn't just a US issue. Many (probably most) countries have fixed duration visas and will not allow you to just casually return if your visa has expired. You have to plan ahead to ensure you have renewed your visa before leaving (and even to avoid overstaying). Now if you have an automatic tourist visa which kicks in, that can provide some safety; but in some cases some countries will disallow conversion of tourist visa into any other kind of visa without leaving the country and applying. There are vast variations and combinations depending on the details of country-country. > hold hostage current H-1B holders I don't understand why people seem to believe that once you have a temporary right, you should be able to have that right forever after. I live abroad, and I have to go through the process and expense to renew my visa to live and work there. If circumstances change in that country, they certainly have the right to tighten up requirements to the point where I would not be allowed to renew. This it not an issue of where a renewal stamp is given.
- bmitc 4y ago
  The situation is perfectly relevant, just its scale is larger than other incidences. The U.S. makes visa holders return to their own country to renew the stamp because in the case of denial, the U.S. can just wash their hands of the visa holder. Also, I think you’re continuing to conflate the actual H-1B visa with the stamp. You can’t get a stamp unless you have a valid visa. My wife’s H-1B was still valid and active at the time, only her stamp had expired. There are also discrepancies between how long the stamps last. Chinese stamps only last a year, whereas others countries’ last longer. You are also incorrect about her traveling back in this instance. If her passport wasn’t held hostage by the U.S. Consulate awaiting a new stamp, she could have traveled back to the U.S. prior to the ban took effect. Even if she missed that, the U.S. Consulate held her, foreign issued mind you, passport, preventing travel to Canada on a valid visa. The entire point is that this entire stamp process has these secondary and tertiary effects, seemingly by design, that are disconnected from the actual visas and act as an additional layer of complexity and increases the surface area for arbitrary denial separate form the actual visa process. The visa and the stamp are two different things.

by bmitc 4y ago

z9znz 4y ago

The COVID situation and the very unusual lockins and lockouts are irrelevant to this topic, as stamp or not, she would still have not been allowed back into the US during that period (unless she had full US citizenship). And my point is that the logistic issues about stamps are a side issue, with the real issue being the [mis|over]use of H1-B in the first place. This also isn't just a US issue. Many (probably most) countries have fixed duration visas and will not allow you to just casually return if your visa has expired. You have to plan ahead to ensure you have renewed your visa before leaving (and even to avoid overstaying). Now if you have an automatic tourist visa which kicks in, that can provide some safety; but in some cases some countries will disallow conversion of tourist visa into any other kind of visa without leaving the country and applying. There are vast variations and combinations depending on the details of country-country. > hold hostage current H-1B holders I don't understand why people seem to believe that once you have a temporary right, you should be able to have that right forever after. I live abroad, and I have to go through the process and expense to renew my visa to live and work there. If circumstances change in that country, they certainly have the right to tighten up requirements to the point where I would not be allowed to renew. This it not an issue of where a renewal stamp is given.

bmitc 4y ago
The situation is perfectly relevant, just its scale is larger than other incidences. The U.S. makes visa holders return to their own country to renew the stamp because in the case of denial, the U.S. can just wash their hands of the visa holder. Also, I think you’re continuing to conflate the actual H-1B visa with the stamp. You can’t get a stamp unless you have a valid visa. My wife’s H-1B was still valid and active at the time, only her stamp had expired. There are also discrepancies between how long the stamps last. Chinese stamps only last a year, whereas others countries’ last longer. You are also incorrect about her traveling back in this instance. If her passport wasn’t held hostage by the U.S. Consulate awaiting a new stamp, she could have traveled back to the U.S. prior to the ban took effect. Even if she missed that, the U.S. Consulate held her, foreign issued mind you, passport, preventing travel to Canada on a valid visa. The entire point is that this entire stamp process has these secondary and tertiary effects, seemingly by design, that are disconnected from the actual visas and act as an additional layer of complexity and increases the surface area for arbitrary denial separate form the actual visa process. The visa and the stamp are two different things.