H1 renewal with expired passport

[coolvigo]

My first 3 yr of Hqb expires on 30 Oct. I have new 797 with me. I wanted to get H1b visa re-stamped......and have appointment in canada next week. But I just realised that my passport expires in 2 years.

I guess the requirement is passport should be atleast valid for more 3.5 yrs from the time second H1b starts.

Should I go for stamping or wait to get passport renewed ?

[glus]

Originally Posted by coolvigo

My first 3 yr of Hqb expires on 30 Oct. I have new 797 with me. I wanted to get H1b visa re-stamped......and have appointment in canada next week. But I just realised that my passport expires in 2 years.

I guess the requirement is passport should be atleast valid for more 3.5 yrs from the time second H1b starts.

Should I go for stamping or wait to get passport renewed ?

You can go for stamping.
Passport should be valid for 1 year or more at the time visa is stamped. Visa will be issued for 3 years if successful stamping occurs. Once passport expires, the unexpired visa in it is still good. You will need to carry 2 passports with you to re-enter after your old passport expires. 1- new passport, 2- old, expired passport with the unexpired visa.

[gc_chahiye]

Originally Posted by glus

You can go for stamping.
Passport should be valid for 1 year or more at the time visa is stamped. Visa will be issued for 3 years if successful stamping occurs. Once passport expires, the unexpired visa in it is still good. You will need to carry 2 passports with you to re-enter after your old passport expires. 1- new passport, 2- old, expired passport with the unexpired visa.

right, thats what some friends of mine in the same position experienced. One more datapoint: the I-94 you get on re-entering the US will expire at your passport expiry time (2 years from now) insteadof expiry of new I-797 (3 years out). After you have the new passport you can either apply for a new I-94 (when its baout to expire), or the next time you travel you'll get I-94 for the full term (as glus said show them visa in old passport and the date-of-expiry of new passport).

[neoklaus]

I get Visa stump in my passport this year.
They even canceled the rule of 6 months validity of passport.
So, you are completely OK.


PD: March 2004
I 140: appr.July 2007
I 485: mailed:08/15/07

[coolvigo]

Thank you very much. You all are awsome.....reading all your replies, i seem to be ok with my situation.