Business Visa - B1

Location: US consulate, BKC , mumbai
Date: 9th Dec 2011

ME: Very good morning to you sir.
VO: Goodmorning, How are you doing?
ME: i am doing good, howabout you?
VO: Fine, Please give your passport please
ME: yes please
VO: what is the purpose of your trip
ME: Explained, meetings..i prepared for this b4
VO: which place you are travelling to ?
ME: Xcity, Answered
VO: Which State ?
ME: Xstate, Answered.
VO: Why do you want to travel there?
ME: again expalined the same
VO: what is you annual income?
ME: XX lacks in indian rupees
VO: Ok, Your Visa is Approved , you will get your passport in 3 week days.

Tips: Dress formal, Be Confidant

I was little worried before as my L1 was rejected earlier in 2007, but the VO didnt asked abt it. :)

Thanks to this site, this helped me in preperation for my inetrview.

I am a student of Electronics & Communication Engineering (Final year). I applied for B1 visa as I had to attend a Cyber Security Conference in Miami.

It was in month of August 2011, when I applied for B1 Visa first time. I got the interview date as 19th August 2011 by US Consulate.

My interview went like this:

I: Good Morning Mam!
VO: Morning!

Visa Officer (VO): Why you want to go to USA?
I: I want to attend a Information Security Conference.

VO: Have you ever travelled outside India?
I: Yes, I have been to Singapore.

VO: Why you went to Singapore?
I: I went there to attend an International Cyber Security and attend a training on Computer Security Analyst.

VO: Can I see your call letter?
I: I handed her my Invitation Letter, that was from EC-Counil USA.

She read it for five minutes and typed onto her system for around another five minutes.

Then she gave me a booklet and said that, "Sorry, I cannot issue you a visa at this moment. As your invitation letter does not proves me this that you qualify for this visa". It was rejected under Section 214(b).

As this moment I had my hotel reservation and flight tickets too. I was having following documents at this moment:

Passport, Driving License, PAN Card, Election Card, College ID, College NOC, Recommendation Letter from Technical and Media Sponsor of the event that was to take place in USA, Father's PAN Card, Father's Salary Slip, Father's Passbook Copy, Father's Office ID.

It was a setback for me as I had no idea that would it ever get rejected.

After this I got my application was reviewed by many of my friends and colleagues. They said this thing that after having the invitation letter the chances are rare for visa to get rejected.

After acquiring some more diplomatic letters from Sponsors and Organizers of event I again took interview date. It was 9th September 2011.

Again I was in front of a visa officer.

Conversation this time:

VO: Hello Sir! How are you doing?
I: Good Morning Sir! I am doing great. How are you doing?

VO: Why you wanna travel to United States?
I: I want to attend a Cyber Security Conference in October in Miami. It is required by me to take up few freelance projects and this conference will help me a lot.

VO: *He took my letter of Invitation, Air tickets and Hotel Reservation.*

Read the subject of Invitation Letter. Threw the documents towards me.

Typed on system for two minutes and then rejected my Visa under Section 214(b).

Hi Friends i am sharing my first experience


Me: Good Morning
VO: Good Morning

VO: Can I have Your Passport
Me: Yeah Sure

VO: Purpose of Visit
Me: Going to Meet My counterpart for Training and to Know the work flow process .

VO: What is Your Company Name
Me: I Have answered it........

VO: How Long You are Working
Me: Past 11 Months

VO: What about your salary
Me: Just answered it.....

 VO: Why you are the only person going to US from ur Team
Me: It will not be economical to my company to send all people, Once my Training is done i'll come back and share knowledge to My Team Members.

Before completing he asked me one more

VO: How long your Duration will be?
Me: 1 Week

VO: Where will be staying in US
Me: Answered

VO: Can i have your invitation Letter
Me: Yeah Sure, Handovered to him (He Started to observe Keenly and asked a Que from my Invitation Letter)

VO: What are additional benifits you will be getting
Me: I Just Mumbled(Not expected) but tried to answer " During my tenure in US company will look after all my expenses"

Now the Best Question of My Interview

VO: Are You Married?
Me: No (For Convincing Him i just tried to start like "My Parents are looking for a girl it might take some time"

Before completion of my Last two Sentences
VO: Ur Visa has been Rejected
Me: For a Second i thought did well but nothing useful. Greeted him Thanks and started walking

So Frnds, Please be careful before answering.

Are you Married will be a Typical question for a 23 Year Guy

Please Start with smiling and Convince him @ur Best.

Rest your Luck and God's Grace.

I attended interview on 09/11/11 and was rejected under 214b. Many suggested not to apply second time with in 6 months. But i had no choice and applied for the second time.

This time i got the visa on 02/12/11. So if rejected under 214b you can apply immediately and you have a good chance of getting it in the next time unless they reject stating your age and marital status.

What i can say to the applicants is prepare well and expect less. You will get your Visa. Pray that you will have to get a good VO. Coz the consulate officer at that time matters a lot.

1) Interview date - 22/11/2011
2) submitted information specified via email on 23/11/2011
3) Received visa 02/12/2011

My parents attended visa interview along with my sister whose is B.Tech(IT) third year.Visa was approved .we were concerned whether she will get visa because of her age . But luckily they all got visa.
Thank you very much immihelp .com .I followed all the steps from your site for preparing documents and interview tips.

Following were the questions
1.what are you doing ?(for all 3)
 My dad gave his visiting card of his business
2 where do your daughters live?
    They mentioned both the places.(my other sister also lives in U.S.)
3.Who is your sponsor?
4.what other family do you have here?
  I have 3 daughters.Two of them are in US
5. Where is your other one?
 I am the third one(my sister answered)
6.Are your daughters US citizens?
7.what is there visa status?
8.How long are you planning to visit?
 1 month(looks at application and ask)
 why is it mentioned 2 months?
They said for back up
9 what do mean by back up?
I expected 2months leave in college
but got only a month.
10.what is the relationship of sponsor to you?
11.why are going to Us?
12.what is your monthly income?
13.Are you traveling together?
14.Is any one of you returning first?
no, we are returning together
15.where are you going first?
16.when are you going?
17.Have any one of you traveled out of country?
18.who is going to pay for the ticket?
19.which city are you going to go ?(mentioned 2 cities )
VO asked these questions by looking at application.NO documents was asked for reference.
Congratulation your visa is approved.

Dear Friends,
  
I had gone to US consulate @ chennai
 the question are
1. Which place , iam gng to ?
2. What is my qualification?
3.Have u travelled before to US
4.Purpose of travel?

She issued the pink slip , after 4 months , i got my B1 visa approved....

Dear Friends,

                            i am writing this with great joy my B1 visa has been issued.i was previously rejected a B1 about 10 months back because VO said that i had been in my company for only 2 months now!! this time though its almost a year i had my doubts because i am 27 and single ( with reference to compelling social ties).as i sat waiting for my turn i observed that a certain VO was issuing visas to most of the people and that too without asking too many questions and i was praying to the lord almight that i be interviewed by that officer.and god heard my prayers!! i was nervous like anybody else but half my fear disappeared when i was called to the officer that i mentioned! he asked me regular question like why you are going to the usa,the duration of the stay, my present experience with the company ,my salary and my marital status and then magic words "sir we are issuing you the visa". what a relief .guys my exp so far is that u r US visa has a lots to do with luck and the mood of your visa officers.all we can do is prepare for the interview and the rest is up to them.so guys prepare well but be prepared to hear a NO also.


immhelp was of great help for me i thank all the people who put up their experiences.good luck to all
                                                                ADITYA

Hello Friends,


This article is to bring some facts about the B1 VISA interview. I attended the B1 VISA interview for a very critical training but got a 221(g) despite providing all the documents. As always, the reason would not be disclosed by the VO's and will be e:mailed seperately. I was asked to provide a resume and was provided with a small questionnaire. (I have 7 Yrs of experience in mission critical IT environment)


I felt the interviewer was well prepared to handover the 221(g) to me as I gave all the answers perfectly and still got slapped with a 221(g). Now my question is - Why did I approach the consulate office for the interview ?. Is it to get a job in US or is it a business visit for x number of days ? and which will bring some value after I return to my present organization ?

Right from the moment I entered the consulate office, I was feeling "uncomfortable" with the show off the people were doing and I was having some feeling like everything is planned (As to whom to be given the VISA and whom not to).


And when my turn came, I was asked the same set of questions which I read on immihelp and there was no problem answering them. It is not our confidence or the preparation - but I felt everything is planned.

When a company is sponsoring the trip, then what is the need of slapping a 221(g) to the candidate and if 221(g) is the only reason - then why dont the consulate provide an ETA as to when the VISA will be released ?. Should it take 2 months to do administrative processing by requesting just a resume and a questionnaire ?


I think am not wasting my time by writing this article.

The following questions were asked:

 

VO: Good Morning Sir

Me: Good Morning Mam (with a smile)

 

VO: Purpose of your Visit

Me: I am going to US for critical trainings..Explained the training subject in brief

 

VO: What project do you work upon?

Me: <Name of the project on which I work upon>

 

VO: Since how long are u in <company name>?

Me: 3.5 years and my total IT experience is 6.5 years

 

VO: What is your annual salary in India?

Me: YYYY Lacs PA

 

VO: So, u are going for the training on some programs?

Me: Yes, as well as on the critical architectural change, which no one is aware of in India. And after my return to India, I have to provide the Knowledge Transfer to my team so that they can work on the same.

 

VO: Sorry, I can’t approve your Visa as I don’t find any specific reason for approving it.