Applying for schengen visa with expired H1B visa

H1B Visa
1

Hello,

I am planning to travel to Europe in June 2024. My H1B visa is expired but have valid I797 till 2027, so planning to get the visa stamped from Europe/Berlin. I see that H1B visa wait time in berlin is very less so getting an appointment won’t be a problem. I am an Indian citizen.

Questions:

  1. Does german embassy in US care that my visa stamp has expired. Will they deny or create issue for issueing a schengen visa?
  2. Does US consulate in berlin have any rule to prevent third party country citizen apply for H1B visa?

Note my family will also be traveling with me and their H4 visa is also expired with valid i797 extension.

2

  1. Usually, the rules for applying visa for a non-US country from USA is that you have legal status in the US.
    You have it with approved i797.

  2. I don’t know about any special rules that US embassy in berlin have that explicitly disallow applying US H1B visa.

  3. Check their website as each embassy devise their own rules from time to time.

3

Adding to what @anil_am22 mentioned (which is right by all counts):

They might want to look for Visa/Advance Parole which you will be use to enter back in US. This is something that they might get concerned about. What if there is delay in issuing Visa in Germany; or, what if visa application is refused? It’s risky and your Schengen visa may get denied. Though, i must add that each country has different rules around this.

E.g. Here is what Italian consulate, NY says

image
image1201×496 49.1 KB

1 Like