Business Visa - B1

I think the the visa interview is only to check the confidence of the candidate and for clarifying their doubts if any with the DS forms submitted.

Anyways following are the questions i was asked in my visa interview:

. Greeting each other
. Which place u r travelling
.Purpose of ur travel
.which was ur previous company
.Any one travelling along with u
.how long u stay there

Thanks to Immihelp to get my B1 VISA
 
VO: Good Afternoon
Me: Good Afternoon. How r u Doing Today?
Vo: Doing Great. Thanks
VO: What is purpose of your trip?
Me: Going to meet my counterpart for Business meeting & to understand their work Process
VO: To whom with you work?
Me: your Organization name..
VO: What Magna Does?
Me: Profile of your organization in short.
VO: How long you are with Magna?
Me: 2 & half month.
VO: where you are before Magna?
ME: Previous Employer name….
VO: What is your annual salary?
ME: X LPA
VO: Why you visited Europe before?
Me: To attend the Workshop.
VO: your Visa is approved & you will receive it in next 2-3 days.
Me: Thank you sir.

Tips: Dress Formal, If possible Use Tie. Keep company ID.
          Greet VO with Smile. Keep eye to eye contact till you finish.

I wanna share my visa interview experience..

my interview was scheduled on 10 Nov morning 8:00 am.
I was well prepared for the interview coz i had seen lot of post .. about people faced rejection..

VC: good morning.
Me: Very good morning.

VC: have you ever been to US.
Me no.

VC: Purpose of Travel.?
me: I was giving long answer....that I m going for training.. I work .with XYZ company...and so on..{shit .. the the Vc was not even interested in listining to me}

I got nervous.

VC: how long is you training/
me- 2 weeks..

he started writing in his system.....

i thought .. its rejection..


VC: your visa is approved..
me: Thanks you.


thank god...

Counsel: Hello Sir! How are you?
Me: I am doing good. Thank you. How are you?
Counsel: good good.. and asked my passport and appointment letter in the file.
Counsel: Why are you going to Covington,KY?
Me: I am going for a training sir.
Counsel: what is your designation?
Me: told my designation
Counsel: what is your salary?
Me: xxx per annum and monthly it is....
Counsel: that is enough... and what is the training all about?
Me: explained.
Counsel: how long you are going to be there for training?
Me: Only 2 weeks sir.
Counsel: wre you going to do any development work when we you go there?
Me: no sir. i am going only for training. once I return I will train my team member and start development from here.
Counsel: Your visa is approved.
Me: Thank you so much sir.

Note: don't be nervous. be bold and be confident of what you are saying.

I have attended the interview on 01-Nov-2011 in Chennai and approved. Here are the questions asked.

VO: Good morning. Please come forward.
Me: Good morning. How are you? Handed over the folder to him.
VO: No reply. You are from YYYY company?
Me: Yes.
VO: Where are you going in US?
Me: YYYY
VO: For which client?
Me: YYYY
VO: What is the purpose of the visit?
Me: Technical discussions, meetings
VO: What u do for them basically?
Me: blah blah blah.........
VO: What is your annual salary in INDIA?
Me: YYYY X
VO: Are you going to do any work in US?
Me: No productive work in US.
VO: Ok. I will approve your VISA. You will get the passport back in 3 working days.
Me: With smile.. Thanks and left from there.

Go prepared, Be confident and you will clear it.

All the best..!!!

I went for US Business visa interview on 02-Nov-2011 at 8:30 AM.

The visa officer was asking lot of questions to the candidates in front of me. He was taking around 10 minutes. But he took only 1 minute for me. I was asked the following questions -

VO: You work in YYYY , right?
me: Yes
VO: You will be going to YYYY , right?
me: Yes
VO: What are you planning to do there?
me: I explained that I have to meet my counterparts to gain business knowledge. But before I could finish, we went for the next question.
VO: How long will you be travelling?
me: 6 weeks
VO: What is your salary in India?
me: told the salary.
VO: Your visa has been approved. You will get it in one week.

My background -
I have 10 years of experience in the Industry. I have made 2 previous US visits with L1 visa. I have been working with my current company for only 1.5 months.

Business Visa Interview:
I was asked by my company to get a B1 Visa , got all the approvals and necessary paperwork and setup the PA date.

I reached the US consulate in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi an hour before my interview time, wasnt carrying my cell phone with me, the security at the entrance has a few lockers to store mobiles if you are carrying it with you.I was just carrying my documents, passport, DS160, appointment letter and draft receipt in one folder and the remaining i.e. invite letter, salary slips, appointment letter,etc in another one. I wore a blazer, no tie and formal shirt and a pair of trousers though not sure if that matters.

I reached a shed where a girl stapled the DS160 confirmation, appointment letter and draft to my passport and asked me to move to the next girl who asked me the kind of visa, punched in and gave me a token number on a small receipt.

There was a guy selling cold and hot drinks, sandwiches at exorbiant prices and there were around 30 odd people sitting in the area and a really good looking female on the seat next to me. Multiple display screens kept showing the token number of people who could move into the main hall (and all I was noticing was the girl ) lolz.

A little later the girl who was issuing tokens came and asked for everyone to move into the main hall where we had to again stand in queues in a narrow aisle kinda area with seven counters. My number came , moved to the counter and a couple before me was struggling to provide the required docs to the guy behind the counter (an Indian). After standing for around 20 mins my turn came and the only question asked was where are you planning to go in the states, I gave my destination, he punched in some numbers, returned my passport and asked me to move on to the main hall and counter number 10 for biometrics.

I entered the main hall with around a 100 people seated in around 4 rows and counters from 9 to 21, got into the biometrics queue and gave my fingerprints ( the same manner as for UID) left palm, right palm and the thumbs). The American tall guy behind the counter was all smiles and looked very jovial as he showed me how to give my fingerprints by making gestures.

The moment I finished biometrics saw my token number flash on screen against counter no 16 and i was wondering why people were still waiting when for me it was so quick. (guess cause it was a business visa).

Moved to the counter, my palms sweating and **** scared not because of anything but it would be a shame to get rejected and not know the real reason of rejection.

The guy at the counter took my docs and here is the summary of how it went for around 5-6 mins:

Me: Good Morning
VO: (no response and just took my docs- American guy and was in a foul mood )

VO: So why are you going to the states?
Me: started rattling off a well prepared answer around the workshop I had to conduct.

VO: (not listening to me and took the PA system and called for an attendant and started scolding her cause the guy with a kid who had come to the counter before me was the third case of less than 120 months and applying for a visa. Damn he will definitely reject me now).

VO: Yes what were you saying
Me: (with a smile started off my answer all over again.)

VO: where are you going in the states?
Me: gave location

VO: How long have you been working with your company?
Me: ** months

VO: you have been with them just for this long and they want to send you abroad, Why? (he asked me this thrice over)
Me: Well thats cause I have ten years of experience overall in this industry in addition to the **months.

VO: Where were you working before this?
Me Gave the name of a big brand i was working for

VO: And what were you doing there?
Me: Explained my last job role.

VO: Ok and how long is the workshop for?
Me: Four weeks, four workshops with four sets of employees.

VO: So these people will leave their normal jobs for a month and attend your workshop ?
Me: No as I mentioned earlier, these are four different sets and one set wil be there for one week only.

VO: Ok give me the names of the companies that these people are currently working for?
Me: These are employees of my company working in various engagements across **** *** industry

VO: Yeah but then there would be names of these companies that they work for?
Me (Shit, he is definitely going to reject me now, mumbling as I get blank but still manage to utter half a dozen companies)

VO: (says sumthing quickly)
Me: (I hear your visa has been rejected) I am sorry, can you repeat that please

VO: (again says sumthing quickly) and hands me a blue card
Me: (Shit is it the rejection slip that everyone writes about but no it says your visa has been approved and details of VFS)

Me: still numb as I walk out of the place and get out to look for an auto, still unable to believe that I got it !

So no piece of advice, I don't know how he gave it despite being so stiff and questioning everything, so I guess its a decision on every individual case and no blanket approach !

P.S.: Wish I had spoken to that good looking girl(grey formal skirt) while waiting for the interview ! :(

Hi,

I have attended for B1/B2 visa today @ Mumbai location.

There was a lady.

She asked me why you want to go to US?
I have explain her that to attend buss. meetings and training.....

She asked, you going to XYZ Company?
I said, yes, I am going to XYZ Company's HQ in USA.

She gave me my passport back and told "I am giving you your passport back because I can't approve your visa, I am also giving you the 214 (B) which will explain you why you didn't got the visa".

I said, Thanks and have a nice day!!

Ihave attended the visa interview 17.10.2011 at 9.15 am in chennai. Our conversation
lasted for about 5 minutes and all the questions were as expected and
Ihave answered them positively and confidently without any hitch.

Below are the Q & A from my interview.

The Embassy personal denied my visa for the below reason: You cant
convince your visa officer

Me: good morning how are you.
VO: good morning.

VO:Have you been to US previously?
 ME: No

VO:Who is your client & whom u r work?
ME: **** *** company and **** *** is the client ( he typed something in his
computer and waited for 1 minutes.

VO: What is the purpose of your visit to US?
ME: To Attend Series of Training( shown the Training Plan)

VO: What is your annual income?
ME: **** **** INR

VO: What are you? What is the nature of your job?
ME: I am a PG in **** ***. I am Leading a Team here in
( and explain about our Project / work etc.,)
(He typed something in his system vigorously and said You can’t
convince your visa officer )
ME: Thank you sir.

He gave me a 214 (b).

I am going to Re- apply again on 24.10.2011 can i get the visa by this time.
I am going to get a letter from a senator in US weather it will work please help me.
kindly advice
thanks in advance.

First of all thanks to immi for creating such a wonderful website which helped me to prepare for my visa interview.

I got my B1 visa approved today i.e; 14/10/2011

Following questions were asked to me by the VO

Me: Good afternoon madam, how are you?
VO: Good afternoon, I am fine thanks. How about you?
Me: I am doing good thanks.
VO: Purpose of visit to US?
Me: For attending training and series of meetings.
VO: What kind of training and how many meetings?
Me: Explained her about my training schedule in short and told her that I will be attending 5-6 meetings.
VO: She kept silent for aroung 30 seconds typed something in her computer and then said you are going to US for 4 weeks, don't you think it a long time for training
Me: This was a tricky situation and I have to convinced her that my training will be really requiring a span of 4 weeks. So I explained her about the technical difficulties which we might faced during our training and it will take time to troubleshot the problems [All this explanation was in short]
VO; Are you going to do any productive work in US?
Me: No, I will be going to US just for training purpose and after coming back to India I will be training my team.
VO: Now it was a time for which I was waiting and golden words from VO are repeated for me......Your visa is approved, your passport will be couriered to you within 2 days.
Me: Thanks a lot madam

Note:
1. When you entered for the interview, always greet the VO with a smile
2. Arrange all your documents properly. Though I was not asked for any documents in fact most of the guys were not asked. But on few counters VO was asking for some documents and those who have not arranged them properly where finding it difficult to reach the required documents.
3. Answer to the point, don't be more elaborative and don't cook the stories
4. Be confident and have a eye contact with the VO while your interview is going.

All the best for the future aspirants!!