No change of Status in Tijuana, Mexico

Tijuana, Mexico and most other US Visa consulates no longer process Visa Status Changes. For example, if you are in F1 and now have an approved H1 visa and need stamping on your passport, you will have to go back to your native country for stamping. Even H4 to H1 is no longer processed. So no change of visa status stampings are processed.

It is just not Tijuana, Mexico. Most other consulates don't process change of status anymore.
Tijuana, Mexico only accepts extensions or renewals. Also when you go there it is better to go before your I94/stamping expires so that if something goes wrong, you can come back based on your valid I94/stamping. Keep checking updates.

If you need more details check this Murthy Bulletin Link.

H1B Stamping Experience by a recent visitor

I got this update from Chirag on Oct 2nd, 2008 who emailed me his recent experience in Tijuana about H1B Stamping. Thanks Chirag for your update and helping others. Here is his experience in his own words.

First of all I would like to thank for your wonderful post. Its really helpful.

The Banamex bank is moved and now it is just 2 blocks from the consulate. The best way to confirm the bank location is the person should be able to see the Abram Lincoln’s statue from the bank's entrance. Also, the fees is US $135.00. (I paid US $270 for my h1 and my wife's h4).

Once done at Banamex, go on the road (Lincoln’s Right Hand side and right side of the road). The consulate is at the end of the road. (You will see few photo and copy shops before consulate). At consulate their are few guards, ask them can you go inside, because sometimes they allows entering even half an hour before you appointment.

There were about 9 h1b (8 indian, 1 chinese) peoples on the same day. There is no any separate line for H1b persons, all are called in sequence, and the day we go there (wednesday) it looks like busy. It almost took 1:30 hour. Everybody's interview goes smooth except mine. The consular who took my interview looks like strict. He take almost 45 minutes for the every person's who go to his window, while other consular just take like 5 or 10 minutes. During my interview he told me to seat and wait until he call me back, and he return after 45 - 50 minutes, then he told me to come back at 3:00 to get my passports with visa. (during that 45 minutes he called my company to verify its existence. he also told the accountant who picked up the phone, that they will not issue me the visa if my company doesn't give the financial documents immediately, but no body had sent those documents - I didn;t even know about this things until next day when I go back to my work, so I think they just call my company to confirm the company's existence and my position).

Also, usually they returns passport early even they tell us to come at 3:00. I get my passport at 2:30.

At the border, as soon as you pass the rotating door you will see a building (Border Security) on right hand side, go there for new I-94, and pay US $6.00 (They issue me I-94 with the same exact information which I had on I-797 bottom part, I don’t think that I is required but I looks like the officer which check my documents are under training so they process them again and issue me i-94 (white card)). and then go ahead there you will see lots of people in queues, and join them. Here officer will just verify information again.

Pretty much it was a good experience except that 45 minutes waiting time at consulate. The information you give such as directions, parting lot, crossing border, taking taxi to banamex, banamex to consulate, consulate to border, and processing at border, are really worderful help.

One more thing is PIMS.
They don't verify the details when you email them, it is better to call the consulate between 3:00 PM and 4:00PM (if you call any other time they will tell you to call at this time) and they will ask for you I-797 petition number. I called about 3 times and it was verified before 3 days of my appointment. I suggest starting calling them before 2 weeks. (The guy which also was there for H1B told me that he just called them once before 2 days of interview and his PIMS was verified, so I think consulate does this for all the petitions, but all want us to call them and verify this before going for interview, so its better to call them before 3 days)

Thanks again for this post.
Chirag

I hope this post helps everyone.

PIMS in Tijuana

Update: Looks like the consulate at Tijuana has stopped replying about PIMS verification. But you are still required to fax them them prior to your appointment.

PIMS verification has been officially commenced for a while now. It is very crucial to verify PIMS before you go to the consulate otherwise you could get stuck for three days. Though I have not experienced PIMS myself, this is the collective information about PIMS in Tijuana. (Source: http://tijuana.usconsulate.gov/petition_based_visas.html and http://tijuana.usconsulate.gov/niv.html )

You might ask, what is PIMS?
Consular officers may no longer accept Form I-797 as sufficient evidence for visa adjudication. Petition approval and visa eligibility must be confirmed in the Department of State's Petition Information Management Service (PIMS) database.

How Long does it take?
PIMS verification takes on average 24-48 hours to complete. A visa will not be authorized in the interim.

What should I do?
If you scheduled an appointment at the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana previously, we recommend that you fax a copy of your approved I-797 to the NIV section at least 72 hours prior to your interview date (fax: +52-664-634-3069). Please include the date and time of your appointment, as well as the confirmation number given to you by the appointment call center. Consular staff will determine whether your petition is registered in PIMS, and if it is not, will request that the petition be verified and added to the database. Please note that we are able to verify petitions in PIMS only for individuals applying at the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana. If you have scheduled an appointment at a different U.S. consulate or embassy, please contact NIV staff there directly with any questions you have regarding processing your petition-based visa.

Also from some other sources I have found that you could verify PIMS using the contacts below.
E-Mail ID of Consulate : tijuanainfo@state.gov
Tijuana U.S. Consulate Fax Number's:
+52-664-634-3069 - Mexico Number

Tijuana U.S. Consulate Phone Number's:
+52 664-634-3045


Following is the Generic email format for PIMS verification.

Dear Consulate Officer,

I am XXXXXXX (Your Name), working as a XXXXX (Your Designation) on H1B with XXXXXX (Your Company). I scheduled an appointment at Tijuana Consulate, Mexico for getting my H1-B visa stamped on XXXXX(Appointment Date) and my confirmation number is below:

Confirmation Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I would like to know if my PIMS check is already cleared for my I-129 petitions. I am attaching scanned copy of approval of I-797 and appointment letter as PDF file to this mail.

Attachments:
1. I-797A.pdf
2. Visa Appointment letter. PDF

Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards, XXXXXXXX (Your Name)

You would get an email confirmation from the consulate and your PIMS verification.

After you have done this, you are all set to go for Stamping.

Hope this post helps. If you experience anything different please let me know and I will update here. Thanks.