L1, L2 Visa

I am really thankful for the members who have shared their experiences that helped me prepare for the interview. I am adding mine, i am trying to touch all the points and procedures to present the best help.

I had the 9:15 interview slot on 20th Sept and 14:45 slot on 19th Sept 2019 for biometrics.
Though not necessary, I took all the documents for biometrics too but requirement is just for your appointment and DS160, biometrics are easy and you will be free in 20 minutes.

The real daunting task is the interview, under the chaotic stage of standing in layers of queues before you finally get in the consulate, be sure that what queue you are standing. I was applying for the L1 B(blanket) , reached by 8:30 and was able to get in 9:10. The over-anxious faces melted away into hustle of getting screened by a securtity guard who was hurling directions. You will be given a pamphlet, asking to sort your I-129s + I-797 into 3 sets, the DS160 confirmation and your passport.The B1 candidates don't require sorting and are directed to join the next queue. If you are going to pay the fraud detection fee by Demand Draft, the name & particulars are required to be added in it's back. I chose to pay with the credit card. My AmeX corporate card breezed up nicely. I wanted to try my Diner's black but I saw there was some problem with a guy, ahead of me, whose card was not getting read and the cashier asked him to go outside, the cashier was strict and not in a mood to entertain another credit card. But the guy requested and he was able to pay by the next card. So, i refrained to use my diner's.

I searched for which all credit cards are accepted as my pre-work, but didn't get any worthy info so I am sharing the info.
 
After a final biometric confirmation, you are sorted to wait for your turn and the noises of rejections get to your head. Keep a calm and steady persona and think positive.
My turn came and there was a L2 candidate just before me, I knew this will be converted (and it did) so it gave me a sense of positivity.

VO: come over please
Me: good morning officer
VO: a warm morning

VO: so you are applying for L1 blanket, which company you work for?
Me: xxx (a leading EDA brand)

VO: what is your stay period?
Me:36 months
VO: 3 Years
Me: yeah

VO: Will you be working in the office location?
Me: (i misunderstood her question) I am currently working in the Delhi subsidiary of the company
VO: No, i meant at what location will you be working in US? will you be working in the same location or multiple locations?
Me: I will be working from Mountain View, California.

VO: What is your per annum salary going to be?
Me: xxK base and yyK bonus (greater than 120k)

VO: who are your end clients?
Me: I am a developer and we serve a lot of semiconductor companies. As we took projects that are binded by non-disclosure agreement I can't specify a brand.

VO: what do you specialize in?
Me: I am a design and verification engineer architecting product for verifying memory subsystem.

VO: why do you think this is special and require you to be in US?
Me: Memory subsystem is a complex circuitry helping out your processors from say,Intel in your desktop and Qualcomm in your cell phone perform smart tasks optimally. I,in my company, lead this with variety of Dynamic memory (DRAM) technologies. As we are trying to complete the product line, I will be working with the IP team in US to signoff the development at brisk pace.

(VO starts writing something on the I129-s) VO: Are you married?
Me: I am single

The golden snatch of the stamp, and she signed off with "your VISA is approved"
Me: Thanks a lot officer.
VO: Welcome and take care.

Some pre-work i did:
1. Prepared short 2-3 lines answers for the generic questions. Explain my work in a layman language to my relatives who don't have any understanding of how complex the systems interact under the hood. In a month time i gained confidence to explain it to anyone.
2. Asked my company's attorney to have a mock interview session a day earlier before my VISA interview. My attorney advised me to NOT use acronyms and if there's an intent explain it with fullform and stick to what is written in the letter of intent.
3. Took advise from my colleagues and US hiring manager who already have been working in US with L1B
4. I made sure to get an early time slot, i was getting a time slot of 11AM on 21st August and then there was a slot of 9:15 after a month, i chose the latter as early morning slots are always better as your VO is fresh.
5. Learn on the rejection ratio for your company, i discussed this with my Director. This helped me set the correct mindset.

I did get a feeling that VO (and their back-end team) pre-work your case and the 5 minutes interaction is to just ascertain your genuineness. So make sure you are getting a good salary at par with current median where you will be working; have gained good experience(6+ is considered great) in your domain/company for you to be called a specialist; your DS160 should boldly point on the daily tasks and duties.

Thanks and best of luck!