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A friend of mine had a J1 visa entry to the USA a few years ago.

This friend now receives an H1B visa in the USA, after J1 got expired.

This friend does not want to go back to the home country A abroad or other B countries abroad to renew the J1 visa to H1B visa stamp on the passport. The reason is that it will take time to wait to stuck in another country (A or B) for a few weeks or months while waiting for the passport to be mailed back to the owner. It is too time-consuming.

  1. Can this person get the H1B visa stamp within the United States on the passport? (without traveling abroad?)

You may wonder why this person needs to renew to H1B visa if already staying in the US. The reason is that this person also has to travel abroad to another country C for a conference sometime for 5 days (not home country A) in the summer, but that will be too short a period of time to renew the visa in country C.

  1. What will be the best scenario to get the renew H1B visa, without going back to home country A, and without staying in the country C for more than 5 days? So the person can get back to the USA from country C, without being stuck in country C or home country A?

According to https://www.usa.gov/visa-problems

Visa Renewals You must renew your visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. Only diplomatic visa holders and their dependents may renew them in the United States.

  1. This person lives near the USA/Canada Niagara border, in the USA side. Is there some way the person can travel to the border to the Canadian side, and come back to wait in the USA after submitting materials, while waiting to have the passport with the new visa stamped mailed back to the person's USA resident home? (before this person travels to country C in the summer.)

Thank you very much for your answer in advance!

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  • I got my H1B extension in Canada and not in my home country. However that's 20 years ago so I don't know if that's still the same. Each consulate (at the time) made their own rules on the fly. Anything from "no problem", to "we need your passport for at least 30 days". I would advice doing some research upfront.
    – Trains and Planes
    Commented Mar 29, 2023 at 2:38

1 Answer 1

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  1. Not currently
  2. Not currently. There are reports that the Department of State might do a pilot for renewal of H1b visas inside the US later this year, but this has not been implemented yet.
  3. I hear that people often go for quick visits to Canada or Mexico to get US visas, but I don't know how the specifics of that work.
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  • +1 thanks so much! It will be great to know any update in 2.
    – wonderich
    Commented Mar 29, 2023 at 12:45

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