Business Visa - B1

Hi all,

This forum was helpful. I am thankful to all the people who posted their experiences and all those experts who have guided the applicants.

This is my case. I am
1. First time applicant for B1 visa
2. Doctor by profession with 6yrs of work experience
3. Experience with current company: 4 months only (I am hired by my current employer for
this project because I have specific skill-set)
4. Purpose of travel: Knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer from the client related to the project - "Business meeting and discussions as per Invite letter from my Employer"
5. Duration of travel- 4 weeks
6. Never been to any-other country before
7. Current CTC - 8.5 LPA
8. Designation: Team Lead
9. Married but living separately (not divorced or filed for divorce) and have a 4 yr old daughter living with me and studying UKG
10. I am living with my parents who are dependent on me.

My VISA experience:
Greetings from me and VO responded politely.
Questions:
1. What is the purpose of your travel?
A. Business meetings and discussions and explained about my project in 2-3 sentences
2. What is the duration of your travel?
A. It is for 4 weeks. I told about my each weeks schedule in detail
3. What is your Graduation?
A. I mentioned about my graduation and profession
4. For which company are you working for?
A. ZZZ Company
5. Is your travel sponsored by your company?
A. Yes
6. From which location are you working from?
A. From YYYY location - India
7. For how long are you been associated with YYYY company?
A. I mentioned that I am recently hired by my company for this project for which I am travelling, and it’s been 4 months since I joined.
8. Do you have any relatives in US?
A. No
9. Do you have a family here in India? And your family consists of?
A. Yes, I have a 4 yrs. old daughter and I am living with my parents, who are dependent on me.

Outcome: Maam, your Visa is approved.

I wore my company ID card. No documents were asked for or verified.

My suggestions:
I am a first time applicant, new to my company, and never traveled before. There were so many opinions about my VISA application from friends, colleagues and family. Just be confident (not over confident), dress up decently, speak politely, answer to the point, and dont be nervous (VISA denial is not the end of the world - keep that attitude). If your qualification, experience and purpose are in sync, I think it should work out. All the best !

I am penning down my experience as few of the experiences in this community has helped me shape and articulate my responses. So this was my 2nd B1 application in a span of 10 months. So I can add in both my experiences.

Jan 2019: I has joined my company on 2nd of Jan and was asked to attend an annual event in end of January so I had to get my visa sorted ASAP. I could get an appointment only at the Delhi embassy due to the time constraint.

VO: Whats the purpose of your visit?
Me: I am invited to attend our company's annual sales kick off in New Orleans.

VO: Is this your first time to the US?
Me: Yes

VO: When did you join the company?
Me: 2nd of Jan, 2019

VO: What is your salary?
Me xxx per month

VO: You said you are a product manager?
Me: Yes, Senior Product Manager

VO: Have you traveled for business before?
Me: No

VO: You are not eligible for a non-immigrant Visa this time, if you company asks for a reason please show this slip.

16th October,2019: Mumbai Consulate

VO: So, why are you visiting the US?
Me: I will be visiting my company headquarters in Naples, Florida. I have been invited by my human resources team to attend a development training program. I will also be attending internal meetings with business stakeholders and the leadership team based out of the headquarters.

VO: What's your designation?
Me: Senior Product Manager

VO: How many people report into you?
Me: I don't have a team reporting into me but I have a regional role and manage multiple markets like South Asia, ASEAN and the Middle East.

VO: Are you married?
Me: Yes

VO: Where is your husband based and what does he do?
Me: He is based out of Mumbai and works in a Private bank

VO: Does he have a US visa OR has he applied for one?
Me: No for both

VO: Does he intend to apply for a US visa?
Me: Not in the near future

VO: I see you applied for a B1 in Jan?
Me: Yes, I was invited to attend my company annual kick off in the end of Jan 2019

VO: And that was just a few days after you had joined?
Me: Yes, coincidentally the kick off was around the time I had joined so I was asked to attend the same

VO: You said you are going for training? Do you have a letter? Can you show that?
Me: Yes please

VO: (He scans through the letter, word by word).. Can you wait a moment, I'll be right back! (I could see walk off and enter a cabin and sit down, it was visible from where I was standing and after 3-4 minutes, he returns back with my passport and the invitation letter)

VO: What's your designation again?
Me: Senior Product Manager

VO: So your company is into financial payment transfer and related technology?
Me: Yes

After typing for 2-3 minutes, he looks up

VO: Your visa is approved. You will get a notification once your passport is ready for collection. Have a great day.
Me: Thank you so much. Have a great day ahead.

I agree to the fact somebody mentioned below, the experience is unique for every case and the decision takes into account a number of factors pertaining to that particular case. Hope this helps!

Had my Visa interview today scheduled for 8:45 but it started at around 9:30. The queues were extremely long but coming before time won't be of any use since they don't allow you to enter early.

VO : Why are you visiting USA?
Me : To meet with Google and YouTube teams and give them feedback on various products and services.

VO: Do you have an invite letter?
Me : Yes! (Handed over the letter)

VO: Will google be paying you for this?
Me: No sir. They will only cover my travel and stay expenses.

VO: How much do you make monthly?
Me: xxx

VO : Thank You sir! Your Visa is approved.
Me: Thank you! Have a nice day!

I have been reading experiences on this website for months and honestly, it makes everything sound much more scary than it actually is. Your dress code, fluency, or your perfume DOES NOT MATTER. The case for everyone is unique and everyone is judged differently. There are no set guidelines for approval.

Hello all,
I have B1 visa interview scheduled for Oct end at Chennai Consulate.
My B1 visa was rejected thrice in the past during code 214(b). Twice during the year 2016 and once during 2017.

I am have applied again after one and a half years of gap.

Kindly suggest and help to go through the visa interview process.

Hi All! I'm looking for advice on my 2nd attempt in Hyderabad next week.

I had my first attempt in Kolkata and below was my experience:
VO: why were you in UAE?
Me: I have done my schooling there for 10 years, however my family is back to India, my dad works in Qatar for now
(Just to add on, i have left UAE in 2006 and have gone back only once for a visit to my sister, who is now back in India too)

VO: Whats your highest degree of qualification?
Me: Masters of Business Administration

VO: Are you working for YYYY company?
Me: Yes

VO: for past 2.5 years?
Me: Yes

VO: Whats your purpose of visit?
Me: to conduct business meetings and knowledge sharing sessions with my Client

VO: what does your company do?
Me: told them its into investment banking and serves clients onshore

VO: whats your duration of stay?
Me: 4-6 weeks

VO: as of now, you donot qualify for B1/B2

i have my 2nd attempt next week in Hyderabad. i need to travel for 4 weeks to understand a process and come back to India to implement the same.

My questions are:
1. How do i prove home country ties as my father still works in Qatar, although my whole family is back here with my new born baby niece
2. Why am i only selected for this job?
3. why was your visa rejected last time and how it the case different this time?

Hi

I had my biometrics today (14th Oct 2019). After that I have realised that i have given my wrong salary in my DS 160.

Can i attend the interview tomorrow and let the VO know that there is a mistake in DS160.

Please help me how to proceed further ?

Please respond as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Hi ,

My B1 Visa interview scheduled on 17th of this month. My visa got rejected in Feb2019 in my previous company(small company) after that my project has been migrated and I have recruited by my current employer(Its a bit MNC) for same client.

I am having 4 months experience with current company and 8+ years of experience with same client.

I have prepared below sample visa interview question and answer after reviewing in this site

Could you please review below Q&A and let me know if any modifications required.
Appreciate early response

Hi Good Morning Sir:
Good Morning

VO : How are you
Me : I am doing good. How about you

VO:In which company currently you are working
Me : YYYY limited

VO : How many years of experience you have with current company :
Me : 4 Months of experience with current company and overall 8 years of experience with same client

VO: How is this possible?
Me:As part of tier1 vendor migration my client has moved to YYYY services from YYYY consulting limited. My client has proposed my name to current company based on experience in the current project and I was recruited for my previous project only.

VO: Why your visa got rejected earlier
Me : I was Senior Software Engineer in my previous company where my client requested based on my experience but consular was not satisfied and it got rejected.
Now I am lead and representing team of 10 people at offshore

VO : What are daily activities you will perform as part of your duty
Me : I am leading the team of 10 members at offshore. Motivating and providing directions to created knowledge base and technical documents for support activities.
     Handling International clients.
     Taking ownership of critical production issues providing the mitigations to resolve them
     
VO : What is the purpose of your visit :
Me : Its a client Visit

VO : What type of business meeting you are going to have in these two weeks
Me : Every year my client will organize these business meetings end of the fiscal year where all the leads will gather to discuss upcoming projects . I will represent from offshore where I will meet different stakeholders to understand the existing process, gathering the requirments for next year.
 I will propose use cases to create tools to handle ongoing critical issues in our application based on my experience.

Hello Guys,

First of all, thank you guys for this wonderful community!

It might be a silly question but just want to clear my doubt before I submit my DS-160.
 
I'm filling my Ds-160 and came across this question, "Have you traveled to any countries/regions within the last five years?". My answer to this is YES, I have traveled to UAE(Business) twice in 2013 and to THAILAND (Tourist) 2016.

My confusion is regarding the next question which is related above one, "Provide a List of Countries/Regions Visited Country/Region(1): " I know that 2013 is definitely beyond the last 5year window, but should I mention UAE as well this in my DH-160 as an answer to this question? Does this question expect the traveled countries only in the last 5 years?

I have read many reviews and understood that DS-160 details matter the most. So in this case, will it create a problem in the interview? Will VO question why I didn't mention it in my DS-160?

Thanks in advance!

Hi ,

I have filed DS 160 and scheduled bio metric on 13th of Oct and Consulate on 28th Oct.

I have my elder brother working in US and he is been in US for around 4 years now and i have mentioned his details in DS 160.

Some one suggested it is not a good idea to mention about relatives in india .

can some one pls advise me if i have to resubmit the form or its ok to have the details of a relative in US.

Please revert back as early as i have very little time in case if i have to update DS 160

I had been planning to visit a friend who is working in the united states. I applied for a B1 for the same. 10 days after I applied, my manager (Who is based in USA) asked me to come to USA for a business meeting. Since I had already applied for the visa, I decided to go ahead with the same application after consulting my corporate visa agent. My visa was rejected and my manager asked me to apply again. I did get an appointment 2 weeks after the first rejection , this time the application was for a business meeting. This too was rejected under 214(b). I had all the relevant documents in place, but the officer didnt check them. Is there a possibility to get it approved the third time? I wish to visit in June/July next year?
I am 26 years old, unmarried woman.