Background

When you are applying for the United States visa renewal and you meet all the eligibility and criteria that are defined, you can get it stamped in your passport without attending the visa interview in person. This type of visa stamping process is called as an ‘Interview Waiver’ and is also commonly known as the ‘DropBox Stamping’. This interview waiver option is available for the H1B visa renewal process as well. It is important to learn about the step by step process for H1B visa stamping using the dropbox option. The various aspects that one should know are the DropBox eligibility requirements, the documents that need to be filled, the booking appointments, and how does the process work with an employer change or H1B visa transfer situation and status changes. Also there are several ongoing changes to the DropBox process which we need to be aware of. One of the first steps that is required to check before applying the H1B stamping using the DropBox option is to make sure that the candidate meets all the required criteria for the interview waive, i.e. the DropBox option. Let's learn the details of the eligibility criteria for the H1B visa stamping using the interview waiver or the visa DropBox option. A candidate needs to meet all of the criteria that are mentioned here.

Slot Availability Pattern Recognition

Analysis of the DropBox time slots in the website shows certain trends and patterns when you can get an early slot for your appointment. Here is the latest slot availability times when you can expect new slots to be available.

Central Time zone (CT) - 00:05, 01:23, 02:05, 03:23, 04:05, 05:23, 06:05, 07:23, 08:05, 09:23, 10:05, 11:23, 12:05, 13:23, 14:05, 15:23, 16:05, 17:23, 18:05, 19:23, 20:05, 21:23, 22:05, 23:23

Indian Time Zone (IST) - 10:35, 11:53, 12:35, 13:53, 14:35, 15:53, 16:35, 17:53, 18:35, 19:53, 20:35, 21:53, 22:35, 23:53, 00:35, 01:53, 02:35, 03:53, 04:35, 05:53, 06:35, 07:53, 08:35, 09:53

Eastern Time zone (ET) - 1:05, 02:23, 03:05, 04:23, 05:05, 06:23, 07:05, 08:23, 09:05, 10:23, 11:05, 12:23, 13:05, 14:23, 15:05, 16:23, 17:05, 18:23, 19:05, 20:33, 21:05, 22:23, 23:05, 00:23

Pacific Time zone (PT) - 22:05, 23:23, 00:05, 01:23, 02:05, 03:23, 04:05, 05:23, 06:05, 07:23, 08:05, 09:23, 10:05, 11:23, 12:05, 13:23, 14:05, 15:23, 16:05, 17:23, 18:05, 19:23, 20:05, 21:23

Login 1 or 2 mins before the pattern time, complete the captcha but do not hit submit button. Submit exactly at the pattern time.

H1B Visa Dropbox Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the visa Dropbox stamping, the candidate should already have H1B visa stamping done and have an existing US visa in the passport of type H1B. This is because the interview waiver or the DropBox option as we call it is only possible for the renewal of an existing H1B visa. The H1B visa should be stamped in the passport after January 1 2008. The H1B visa stamp in the passport should not have annotations like ‘clearance received’ or like ‘department authorization’. The H1B visa stamping in the passport should have been issued after the 14th birthday of the candidate. The H1B visa stamp in the passport should not be lost, stolen or canceled. There should not be any US visa refusals in any of the other visa classes since the candidate’s most recent H1B visa issuance. The H1B visa should be valid and should have expired within the last 12 months. However, there are some exceptions to the 12 months rule where the United States Department of State has waived in person appointments for the H1B holders if they meet the requirements of having a valid United States visa issued in any of the categories in the past and they are applying from the country of residence. There was also a requirement in the past when the applicants earlier visa stamping of H1B should be from the same country. However, the same country requirement was removed and because some consulates earlier were not fully operational. It is important to note that if you are over 18 years of age and applying for an H1B visa renewal, then you need to only meet one of the criterias from the eligibility requirements, which is that your most recent United States visa application should not have been refused.

Dropbox Option for certain First Time H1B Visa Applicants

DropBox option can be considered for certain first time H1B visa applicants. Because many United States consulates across the world are operating in a very limited fashion due to the recent global scenarios and challenges, the United States Department of State has given DropBox stamping facility for various H1B visa applicants who are applying for the first time. These facilities are available if these applicants meet all of the criteria mentioned here for their eligibility. The USCIS approval notice is one of the most important criteria. The candidate must have the H1B visa petition approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or commonly known as that USCIS. The applicants employer is the one who will be applying to the USCIS before the candidate goes for stamping and it is one of the mandatory steps for the visa stamping. The residence country is the next important eligibility criteria. The candidate must be applying for H1B visa stamping in the country of nationality or residence of the applicant. Thus if you are from India, you can only apply in India. Or maybe if you are an Indian citizen but living in France due to work, then you can apply in France as it is your place of residence. The next eligibility criteria is having any previous approved visa. You need to have as an applicant any types of United States visa that has been issued by the past to you and approved by the United States consulate or the United States Embassy. It can be any other visa type than the H1B visa stamp. It is not mandatory to have the H1B visa stamp. Thus you may be previously issued a B1/B2 or an F1 visa in your passport. The next eligibility criteria is that you should not have any United States visa refusal in the past. In case the applicant had an administrative processing refusal like say 221g, then it should have been overcome or waived. The applicant also should not have any potential ineligibility aspects in the application The next eligibility requirement is regarding the ‘clearance received’ or ‘department authorization’. It is important to note that none of the previous United States visa stamps of the candidates passport should have annotations like ‘clearance received’ or ‘department authorization’. The next eligibility criteria is regarding United States visa being lost or being stolen. The most recent United States visa in the candidates and applicant’s passport should not have been lost, stolen or canceled. The next eligibility criteria is regarding the date of issuance of the visa. The most recent United States visa of the applicant should have been issued after January 1 2008.

H1B Dropbox Eligibility for Change of Employer

One of the many questions that I come across applicants is if they need a new H1B visa stamp if they change their employer. Let's learn about the eligibility of the H1B DropBox for a change of employer. There are many cases where many of the applicants of H1B visa, who have changed their employee hours or have transferred to a new employer, have an understanding that they are not eligible for the visa interview waiver or the DropBox submission process. They are often confused with the fact that the previous H1B visa that has been attached to their passport has the name of the employer with whom they worked before. Hence, after they change their employer to the new name, they assume that they are not eligible for the H1B visa DropBox process. We need to understand in more details before clearing this confusion. When the H1B visa was issued by the United States consulate, the visa file that was attached to your passport will have the sponsoring company name of the H1B visa. It would also contain the petition number details under the annotation section. The confusion arises because the previous company name is mentioned in the H1B visa. Due to this many of the applicants assume that they are not eligible for the H1B visa using the DropBox option. However, in reality, the employer name that is mentioned on the United States visa is only an annotation which is added there in the visa for use as a reference by the CBP officer. As the name that is mentioned of the employer has nothing to do with the eligibility of the DropBox process, as long as you satisfy the criteria that is mentioned above, for the H1B visa DropBox, the candidate and the applicant will be eligible for the H1B visa stamping using the interview waiver, that is the DropBox option. You can also fill out your visa details and answer the question here in the official website. And there you will also see that you are not asked about your previous employer information or what your prior visa stamp and notation says about the sponsoring entity, which is your employer. The only questions that are asked during your renewal of the visa are regarding your visa expiration date and general eligibility criteria. This is another confirmation that you as an applicant will be eligible for the dropbox stamping process.

Guide to Apply for H1B Visa Dropbox Appointment

Even if you have changed your employer using the H1B transfer process, it is important to learn in detail the steps about the H1B stamping using DropBox. It is important to note that the process by which an applicant gets the H1B visa stamped using the DropBox or interview waiver option is very similar in most cases with the general visa renewal option that is commonly followed for other types of visas. The only thing that is the main point of interest are the documents that we submit and the eligibility criteria. The first step in applying for the H1B visa DropBox appointment is completing the non-immigrant United States visa application on the DS-160 form. The applicant will need to complete the online non-immigrant United States visa application and you will need to complete all the details and provide all the information related to your current H1B visa sponsor. You will also need to provide all your previous employment information. The form will also ask you to select a location for the visa stamping and the interview when you start your DS-160 form. You should choose the best city that you can think of where you would like to go for stamping from the options that are provided. The city where you will be going does not actually matter, and it can be different from the city where you will actually go to for stamping or submitting the documents for your visa. Allocate sufficient time because the DS-160 form is a long form that takes a while to fill in because it asks for a lot of information from the applicant. After you submit the DS-160 form, you will be provided with a confirmation number. The confirmation number that you will get after submitting the DS-160 form is the same as the application ID. Remember to take a note of the confirmation number or the application ID as this ID will be used in the subsequent steps of the appointment booking for your DropBox stamping.