Business Visa - B1

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.

My B1 VISA has been approved and this is what I feel after the interview

Your designation, monthly salary, how long you are working in the current company - these are the 3 major factors for approval. If all 3 are fair enough, you are going to get the VISA bit easier provided DS-160 should be filled accurately and answer confidently with eye contact. Check out docs and YouTube for mistakes on ds-160 and assistance for filling it if needed. Dress code should just be decent

If the above 3 are not up to the mark (like smaller designation, low salary, less experience in current company), then Interview is the major factor. Just be prepared for below regular questions advised by everyone here to answer confidently:

purpose of visit? Why you are chosen? Why ** weeks? Why can't you do it from here?

I had my B1 consular interview on 26th September 2019 in Toronto. I was told by the VO that my visa was approved, and I will receive my passport back. It's been 7 business days since the interview, but I haven't heard back on my passport. The status shows that it's currently under "administrative processing". I emailed the consulate, but received a very brief response stating that my application is being processed. Anyone had a similar experience? Any response will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

First of all I would like to thank every member on this website. It was really helpful to go through experiences you guys had shared. So I am here to provide some input which could be helpful for other applicants.

1. DS-160 form is the key, Go through each and every section number of times and memorize key things.
Like - Duration of stay with anticipated dates, Places to visit, Do you know anyone in US etc.
Because your selection is based on it. Take a print of completely filled DS-160 form because you wont be able to see the details once the form is submitted.

2. In case of any doubt, you can fill the ds-160 form again even if you have made the payment. You just need to link new application id on the payment website under 'update profile;.

3. I still think your experience with current company is important. It should be around 2 years or more to convince the consular that you are really important guy to the company who can attend meetings and take decisions.

4. Salary per month - should be around 1 lac or so.

5. Eye contact (even though they are not making) - is important. Just look straight with full confidence.

6. Do not brag or provide additional information. Just answer what is asked. Like - why you are going?
Answer : To attend business meetings. That's it.

7. Purpose of visit. Short and informative. Do not speak a paragraph with many technical words. It should be in a way that they are able to understand the reason.

8. Duration of Stay : If possible make it around 1 week. It would allow them to dig into more if you wish to attend meetings for more than 2 weeks. Like why you need so much time there ?

9. Your position in current company : Preferably Manager, AM, Director, etc. Higher position and good salary makes it bit easy to convince them.

I cracked my interview during my second attempt. I made some blunders during my first attempt. I didn't apply immediately. I waited for 2 years. I got a raise and promotion.

I had my B1 Visa interview in Chennai Consulate on 30 September (Monday). Had a rejection in 2013 in the same Visa category, so was a bit nervous this time.

(Good Morning Mam)
VO - Good Morning, May I have your passport?

VO - So where are you travelling in US?
(Mam, its Wisconsin)

VO - What's the duration of your stay?
(2 Weeks Mam)
 
VO - What is the purpose of your visit?
(My company is migrating the corporate website for the client into a new platform, so I am going to meet the Line of Business executives to understand their expectations and requirements.

VO - How long you are associated with current company? What is it.. (my company name)..!! ?
(I am currently working as Technical Lead for almost 1.6 years)

VO - Why did the company chose only you for the travel?
(I am having the technical expertise and good amount of experience in platform upon which the project is to be developed)

VO - Did you visited any other country apart from India?
(Yes, Cape Town, South Africa)

VO - Was it through (my current company)?
(No Mam, previous company)

VO - How long did you stay in South Africa?
(For 1.5 years)

VO - What is your annual salary?
(told my salary. Told in Million Rupees, she asked in Lakhs..LOL)

VO - Where did you worked prior to your current company?
(XX in Bangalore)

VO - Can you please spell it?
(told)

No Invite letter asked, no documents asked.

Your Visa is approved. You may receive a message to collect it.(Have a good day Mam)