H1B Visa Stamping in the USA Pilot Program: Status and Eligibility

H-1B visa stamping inside the USA is not currently available. The Department of State ran a one-time pilot in early 2024 that let a capped group of 20,000 H-1B workers renew their visa foils by mail without leaving the country, but that program closed once the cap was reached, and no successor has been officially announced as of early 2026.¹ If you need a new H-1B stamp today, plan on traditional consular processing at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.

Is Domestic H-1B Stamping Available Right Now

No. The 2024 pilot began accepting applications the week of January 29, 2024, was capped at 20,000 applicants, and was designed as a test to evaluate whether domestic renewals could work at a larger scale.¹ Under the prior administration, plans existed for a broader 2025 program that would have removed the Canada/India mission restriction and potentially included H-4 dependents and other work visa categories. That expansion was not formally launched before the change in administration in January 2025, and no replacement program has opened since.

Before relying on any procedural detail below, check the State Department’s visa news page at travel.state.gov. The rules, fees, and steps described here reflect the 2024 pilot as it was formally published, and they will apply again only if a similar program is reopened.

Your Visa Stamp Is Not Your Status

A lot of the anxiety around visa stamping comes from confusing two different things. The visa stamp is a sticker in your passport that lets you seek entry at a U.S. port of entry. Your H-1B status, tied to your I-797 approval notice and I-94 record, is what lets you live and work in the United States.

You can legally stay in the country and keep working after your visa stamp expires, as long as your underlying H-1B status remains valid. The stamp only matters when you leave and want to come back. If your stamp has expired and you travel abroad for any reason, you need a new one at a consulate before you can re-enter. That reentry problem is exactly what the domestic pilot was built to address.

Who Qualified for the 2024 Pilot

Eligibility was narrow. Your most recent H-1B visa had to have been issued by Mission Canada between January 1, 2020, and April 1, 2023, or by Mission India between February 1, 2021, and September 30, 2021.¹

Beyond that, applicants had to meet every one of the following conditions:

Physically residing in the United States and maintaining valid H-1B status at the time of application.¹
Not subject to a nonimmigrant visa fee waiver; the full Machine Readable Visa fee had to be paid.
Passport unexpired and containing at least one blank visa page.¹
Not otherwise eligible for an in-person interview waiver on other grounds.

Workers who changed to H-1B status from another category while inside the United States did not qualify unless their last H-1B stamp fell within the specified missions and date windows. The 20,000-applicant cap was a hard limit, and intake closed when the cap was reached.¹

How the Pilot Worked

Applicants started at the pilot’s dedicated site on travel.state.gov, selected the host-country post of their most recent H-1B issuance (Canada or India), completed a self-assessment, and were then directed to Form DS-160, the Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application, through the Consular Electronic Application Center.¹

The physical package sent to the State Department’s secure lockbox had to include:

The valid, unexpired passport with a blank visa page.
The most recent Form I-797 approval notice for the H-1B petition.
The I-94 arrival/departure record showing the most recent lawful entry.
A 2×2 inch color photograph taken within the last six months, plain white background, full face without glasses.²
Proof of payment for the $205 Machine Readable Visa fee.³
The printed DS-160 confirmation page with barcode.
A pre-paid, self-addressed return envelope with tracking.

The $205 MRV fee for petition-based visa categories, including H-1B, remains the listed amount on the State Department’s fee schedule as of early 2026.³ Packages had to be sent using a trackable courier. The lockbox address was not a USCIS address.

Processing ran an estimated six to eight weeks from the date the lockbox received your package.¹ There was no premium or expedited option. USCIS offers premium processing for certain petitions, including the Form I-129 used for H-1B, but that is a different agency handling a different filing; the State Department did not offer a paid fast track for the domestic renewal.

One practical constraint mattered a great deal: while your passport was with the State Department, you could not travel internationally, and there was no mechanism to recall the passport mid-process for an urgent trip. Anyone with upcoming travel needed to weigh that before mailing anything.

If the Application Was Refused

A refusal did not affect H-1B status. The passport came back without a new stamp, along with a notice explaining why, and the applicant could then pursue traditional consular processing at an embassy or consulate abroad. Common reasons included the need for an in-person interview or a request for documentation that could not be handled by mail. The right to remain in the United States and continue working was not touched by a pilot refusal; only the ability to re-enter after future international travel required the applicant to secure a new stamp abroad.

What to Do If You Need a Stamp Now

Until a new domestic renewal program opens, H-1B workers who need a new visa stamp should plan for consular processing overseas. If you have flexibility on timing, watch the State Department’s visa news page at travel.state.gov for any announcement of a renewed or expanded program. If you don’t have flexibility, book a consular appointment abroad and prepare for the traditional process, keeping in mind that your H-1B status inside the United States continues to depend on your I-797 and I-94, not on the stamp in your passport.

1
Federal Register. Pilot Program To Resume Renewal of H-1B Nonimmigrant Visas in the United States for Certain Qualified Noncitizens
2
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual. 9 FAM 303.6 – Facial Recognition
3
Travel. Fees for Visa Services