According to the chennai consulate web site, passport has to be valid for 6 months after date of entry in US. But the rumor is that now they require a passport htat is valid for the entire period of the Visa plus six months. i.e if your H1B is for 3 years, you need to have a passport that is valid for 3.5 years.

Can someone confirm/deny this information please. Ive sent mail to the US consulate, but havent gotten a reply yet.

At the time of visa Passport should be valid for atleast 6 months. It can be renewed at any Indian Consulate if you have a valid visa.
Good luck.

Thats not the case. Your passport should be valid for six month at the time of entry .its not the validity of H1B + 6 months.
its only six months from the date of entry and that can be renewed in Embassay within united states.
IF you enter today you need validity only six months, regardless of H1B validity.

Umesh and Mohan, the information you provided is correct. I just got a mail from chennai consulate saying the same :)

Thanks a lot !!!

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