Soft landing by Land from Seattle to Vancouver with AVR

Post PPR
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Hi Group, we intend to do a soft landing sometime in the next few months. We got an “Are you able to travel soon” email from IRCC and they intend to extend our medicals until July 2021 if we confirm that we can travel by then.
I am currently in H1B visa in the US and my visa stamping expired in November 2020. I do have a approved visa extension (I-797) valid until Nov 2023. In this situation, will I be allowed “Automatic Visa Revalidation” on my way back to the US?

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You can be. You should have a valid admission stamp on you I-94.Here are other conditions for automatic visa revalidation.

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Thanks @spai Can you explain what does “You must have a valid admission stamp on your Form I-94.” really mean. When i last entered the US, there was an admission stamp on my passport and an electronic I-94. The admission stamp had a date which was the date until which my H1B was valid. It’s now past that date

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Yes, you will be allowed to enter US thru AVR. You need to show your passport and the most recent I-797 at the US border. Make sure your purpose of travel to US is “work” only.

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Thanks, we plan to drive and do soft landing in Vancouver. Is AVR allowed by land?

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I think it means your I-94 must have a new updated expiry date. If your H1B was extended, you should have a new expiry on ur I-94.You should be able to check it online or on the receipt of your new extension

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Incase you land, plz update your experience in the forum :slight_smile:

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@basky Did you do your soft landing and come back on AVR?

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Yes we immediately returned. AVR never happened since the US visa officer felt “we never left the US”.

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Sorry for resurrecting this old thread.

@basky - By immediate return, did you literally just take the first u-turn by car?

I am in a similar situation. Not able to find any stamping appointments in Canada, or India. I have an approved I-797 till Aug 2024. But no valid visa stamp.

We got our medicals done again, and ended up getting a new COPR till June 19, 2022. I really want to do a soft landing before June 19th if I can.

And did your PR arrive at the address you gave them in time?

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I did take a U-Turn in 2020. No AVR and no updated I-94 as well.

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@jatinst - if it helps, I did a soft landing in December 2021 via Peace Arch. Did not take a U-turn though, we stayed in Vancouver for a couple of days and got back to the US using AVR leveraging the I-797.

We weren’t asked any questions while we were returning back.