Tijuana - H1B Stamping Experience

I had a pleasant experience with my second H1B visa stamping in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on June 7^th 2007. Me and my wife (H4-visa) drove down from Los Angeles, CA to the US border the same morning of my appointment and arrived at the border around 8AM. We parked the car behind the Jack in the Box restaurant for $5 per 8 hrs. The Jack in the Box address is 402 W SAN YSIDRO BLVD, San Ysidro, CA, 92173 721 E SAN YSIDRO BLVD, San Ysidro, CA, 92173 Ph: 619-428-4679. Look at the FAQ more info on getting there and parking info.

We walked from there to the border using the bridge. If you are not able to spot the entry to the bridge ask some officers for guidance. Visa is not mandatory as no one will check. We saved around 200 bucks by not getting the Mexico visa.

When you enter TJ, there will be a bunch of cab drivers waiting and they know you are there for your Visa. So depending upon where you want to go, either to Banamex or to the Consulate just let them know and they charge will $5 to take you there. Banamex is no more next to consulate like before in Tijuana. They moved few blocks away from the consulate. Click here for directions on how to go from Banamex to the Consulate. Also check my FAQ blog. One thing you have to keep in mind is that the entry for the Banamex is from the parking lot behind. You will see a lot of people standing over there in a line. They open at 9 AM and I had an appointment at 10AM. So I had enough time to catch up. Just mention to the bank officer that you are here for the visa and give them your passport and money. They will give you a receipt after they process it.

Now you can walk to the consulate. When you arrive at the consulate you will see a whole lot of people standing in the queue. Talk to the security guards and let them know that you are for your H1B visa stamping and then depending on your appointment time they might either let you in or will make you wait in the line.

They let me inside right away which was pretty cool. Just as soon as you enter the building there is a small window where they ask you for your appointment letter and passport. Here they will there give you a token number. So next is security check. They don’t allow any electronic items or big bags inside the consulate. So if you have stuff with you, just put those things in one bag and there are stores next to the consulate that hold your bags for $3.

After you pass the security, there was a man who asked me if I was for an H1B visa. I said yes. So he told me to ignore the token number as they are having some special line for H1B people, which was some real good news. He directed me to that special line where one Mexican lady checks the documents. She will make sure all information is correct. The bar code you print should be very clear otherwise she will have to re-enter it all over again. Check my FAQ on bar code information. Click here for list of documents you have to carry.

After this I was asked to go to a line for interview which was specifically meant for H1B applicants. Then the visa interview began. I gave him my Passport, DS-156 and DS-157. Then I was requested to provide I-797, I-129, LCA, pay stubs and work confirmation letter. Then he started to shoot some questions.

1. What do u do in the company?
2. What does that software do?
3. How many employees does the company have?
4. How long are you planning to stay in United states?
5. How many programming languages do you know?
6. How many languages do you speak?
7. Where are you from in India?

For question number, 4 make sure you tell him the year mentioned on your I-797 expiry date. After these questions he told me that the visa is approved and should come back at 3PM same day to get the visa. He gave me a token which I need to show when I collect my passport.

I was out of the consulate by 10:15AM. So now we had to kill some time. I had researched before as to what places I should go and visit in Tijuana, to kill time. There are two places that we went to. Revolucion (Pronounced as revolution) and Plaza Rio. I have included some information about these places in my FAQ. We spent some nice time at these places.

Came back to collect my passport at 2:45 PM and found that they have already started to issue the visas. But I found out that my passport is not ready yet and they have some trouble with their computer and I will have to wait inside.

So we waited inside with few other people for around 45 minutes and one lady announced that the computer problem is not resolved yet and we might have to wait till 4:45PM and if that is still not resolved by then, we will have to come again the next day after 12 Noon. This worried me because it was not safe to leave my car at some parking lot at the border and moreover we didn’t know what to do that evening and where to stay. So I advise people to be prepared to stay till the next day as a worst situation and also if you go on Friday, you may get stuck there for the whole weekend.

Then I got lucky at 4:15 PM when our passports came ready with the visa. I verified my name and other details and left thanking them.

We came out of the consulate and took a cab back to the border for $6. He dropped us to the border and we saw a big line of people standing to go to the US. It took us around 40 minutes in the line to get to the immigration officer. The visa officer looked at the visa stamping and its validity. Without asking even a single question he let us in and there we arrived inside US without any problems. We walked to the parking lot and took our car back home.

Overall it was a pleasant experience. I recommend Tijuana for H1B visa stamping as it very easy.

Good Luck to you all for your visa and have safe trip.