L1, L2 Visa

I wanted to share my experience with the L1B Individual visa process at Chennai Consulate.
First of all a big thanks to all the members of this forum. It was a great help. Its time to give it back to the forum.

My L1B blanket was refused on 24th September 2019. I then prepared a strong petition with the help of my company attorney. I strongly suggest getting help from an attorney for an individual filing.

I took time of a week and prepared all documents related to my work at the company. I suggest you provide all documents including all small and big projects you have worked on. Any design diagrams, presentations, etc. Everything is helpful in preparing a strong petition. I provided all that information to the company attorney and My company filed an individual petition on 23rd October 2019 under premium processing.

The petition was approved within a week without a RFE. Please make sure you provide all documents to prove you have specialized knowledge as mentioned above. That will help in avoiding RFE and delays caused due to it.

The individual petition was approved on 29th October 2019 and i scheduled my interview for 4th December 2019 at 11.15am.

I reached the consulate at 11.10am on 4th December 2019. There is no point in coming early as you will have to wait outside unnecessarily, so please come at the scheduled time.
Following is the interview excerpts:

VO: Good morning.
VO: Is it an L1 Individual or Blanket.
Me: Individual.

VO: Is it L1A or L1B
Me: L1B

VO: Who is the petitioner
Me: xxx Company

VO: What will be your salary in US
Me: xxx USD per year

VO: How long will you stay there
Me: xxx years

VO: What will be your designation in US
Me: xxx

VO: What is the location in US
Me: xxx

VO: Describe your role and responsiblities
Me: Mentioned my role and resp. Please make sure your reply is short and to the point. It should not be too long but also should clearly state your roles and why L1B is the right category for you.

VO after typing for sometime: Your visa is approved.

Summary of the conversation:
1. Please be short and simple but also to the point with your replies
2. Dont try to fool the VO. They have all the info in their systems
3. Please make sure you have provided as much info as possible while filing an Individual petition. Maximum info provided helps avoiding RFE and saves time

I would be glad if this helps someone.

Thanks.

First of all a big thanks to this forum .
Helped quite a bit to understand , what to expect..
Time to give back ...

The visa interview was scheduled for 3rd December at 9:45 am.

Arrived at the consulate by 9:20.

Was in by 9:45.
At the desk where they check the I129-S and I 797 realized that
My DS 160 was missing some blue stamp that they put while you
go for biometrics.
My wife’s DS-160 print had that stamp. Allowed in after checking with somebody on phone.

Paid Fraud detection fee by cc . They accept Amex card.

After a little wait was at the VO counter.
They seem to have specific ones where they direct L1 A applicants ( not sure though)

Me: Good morning , how are you doing ?
VO: Great ! Yourself ?
Me: Good.

VO : Can you give me your documents ?
Me: handed over the documents...

VO : What company do you work for ?
Me: I work for XX company ?

VO : Where will you be in US ?
Me : I will be based out of Xx in Y state

VO : So what do you do here ?
Me: I am the Head of Product Management..

VO looks at the papers ..
How long have you been with this company ?
Me: X years..

VO: what will your role be in US ?
ME : I will be leading cross functional product teams. Would
         Have a portfolio and P&L responsibility of XX millions ..

VO : How many people report to you in here ?
Me : 4 direct in two different geographies .. 7 indirect reports.

VO : So you have a global role ?
Me : Yes.. will be similar in US..

VO : So you will head all of the product globally ?
Me : No , I am respondible for xx billions out of YY billions .
        Namedthe product lines ..
At this point it was probably twice he asked me if I am going to head
all of the product lines ... Twice I said no ...and was very specific
if what business I would head and the xx size..

VO : what would be your salary in INdia and what would it be in US ?
    Me : 100 K+ USD in India and 200 K + USD + benefits in US.

VO : How many steps away are you from CEO in org hierarchy
Me : x steps . Then shared the org hierarchy.

VO to My wife : How long have you been married ?
Wife: close to 12 years

VO: Your son is not here ?
Wife : He is a US citizen ..

VO: Your visa is approved..
Me: Thank you ! Have a great day yourself.

Thanks again and warm wishes to all the aspirants.

Hi All,

First of all thanks to immihelp in making me to prepare for the interview.

I will explain my experience in short:
1. No need to prepare for the interview for more than one day. Just take a leave on the previous day and prepare for the interview
2. Things to be prepared: Prepare your answers very well for commonly asked questions -> Whats your company name, What does your company do, What is your current work, What are you specialized in? Why do you go to US? Why can this be done by your US colleagues, Why cant you do this remotely?
3. Neatly arrange your documents in a single file to avoid last minute confusions.

For L1B, you really need to distinguish your skillset and keep your answers around that.

My interview experience.
Wait for the VO to call me.. Once VO called me, I moved forward with a smile
Me: "Good Morning Office. How are you doing."
VO: I am good, thanks. How are you?
Me: Doing good. Thanks
VO: Where do you work?
Me: I work for ABC company.
VO: What does your company do?
Me: explained
VO: You have B1/B2 already?
Me: Yes
VO: Which state did you travel in US?
Me: XYZ city, ABC state
VO: Did you like the place.
Me: Yec, Very much
VO: Whats your US Salary?
Me: I am going just for 3 months.. so its per diem plus current salary
VO: Oh thats good
VO: Whats your position/role in US?
Me: Said the job title
VO: Congrats. your VISA is approved

Lot of factors influences your VISA approval. Below are the orders:
1. Your preparation
2. Reputation of your petitioner
3. Details mentioned in DS-160
4. VO

Hi,
I have attended my L1 visa interview on 15 November. I will higlight the main points and questions by the VO.
Please be relaxed, It will take some time till you reach the interviewer. Be calm and Confident
I have seen a guy standing in the queue being cursed by an auto guy for not giving him the amount he asked.( He cursed that he will not get his visa). There will be a lot of people begging outside. Dont argue with anyone there. Dont let yourself mentally involved in these things. Maybe give them some money and forget about it. Will leave it upto you. But put it behind you and dont think about these things
Dressing: Be well dressed, represent yourself well.
Document Arrangement:
1. I.129S(first 8 pages)+I-797(first page) (All three sets)
2. DD(write full name and passport number at the back)
3. DS-160 confirmation page
4. Passport
You will be guided to a new building once you arrange all these docs where you will pay the DD and attend the interview.
The questions i faced are as follows
1. What is your name
2. Which company are you working for and which company are you going to
3. What is your salary in USD
I was telling my monthly Indian income is ** and **$ per diem, she interrupted and asked in usd. I told **$ and my accommodation will be taken care of
4. How much experience do you have.
5. What is your specialisation
I explained it all, so there was no follow up questions- it varies with officer to officer- some people interrupt and ask why can't it be done by someone else in us etc. In my case it was clear that us people can't do so she didn't ask any more questions.
6. Which systems do you work on.
I told full form
I asked to repeat if the question was not clear or If I didn't listen properly
We should not assume the question and answer.

I hope this helped and wish that all of you get your visas approved.

-Akhil

Hi,
Last week attended my L1B blanket VISA interview got rejected with blue slip marked "Your blanket L1 application is not clearly approvable under section 8 CFR 214.2 (I)(ii)(B), (C) or (D), or INA 101(a) (15)(L)".

Now Can I apply L1A blanket/individual ? Iam eleigible for L1A as I have the reporting team to me.
What are the options left to me,someone can guide on this.

When I check the status in CEAC website it is showing as Administrative process.
VO said provide this slip to your HR.
Asked basic questions
1.what your company does
2.,your job title
3.your salary,
4.duration of stay( 1 year our HR said)
5.from which location you will wor
6.what is your job role--After 2 sentences she interrupted and asked followup question and one clarification)
No cross questions asked not asked about sepcialized skills.
Then she took blueslip and went to some one and discussed few seconds and after that marked mentioned as above not clearly approvable and returned passport and 2 I129 with NCA stamp.
Thanks
Ram

Hi,

I have my L1B individual interview next week.
I had submitted a document of more than 500 pages to the attorney and that was submitted to USCIS as petition.
Do i need to carry all those 500 pages of my technical documents with myself to the interview or just the I129, I797 etc?

Thanks.

Good morning,

Is this for L1A? Yes

Have you been on L1 before? Any other US visas? Yes.

How many yrs have you been living in US now? x yrs

Is this application for the same visa and same job profile you are on right now? - Yes

who is the petitioner and what do they do?

How many years with the company? - 10+yrs

what is your title? - xxx Manager in yyy department

How many direct and indirect reports? - zero.

what is your salary? - 200K+

And what exactly do you do? - (This is where i fumbled a bit (i think) even though i had rehearsed this a day before the interview. My advice - do this mock answer multiple times with many people and prepare many weeks in advance. It must be SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE to a layman. My VO was frowning and unconvinced after my answer. In hindsight, after the jargon, I should have added that i manage xx million usd worth of spend annually - instead of big words, that would have mattered a lot and gave her perspective that it is a senior level job. The next few questions were asked because I believe I failed to give a convincing answer to this one)

So what exactly do you mean by yyy - (Gave her a nervous - and again jargon filled - explanation. Again, I forgot to mention that my dept processes 1B worth of spend for the company each year which would have been more relevant for a VO. She still seemed unconvinced and was typing a lot but I did better on this question than the previous).

Who do you report to? - VP

Who does the VP report to? - (C-level exec)

(to wife) How many years you have been married? (at this point, i knew i was approved)

I am approving your application for 3 yrs - thanks mam, goodbye.

My company, having filed L1B blanket petition, is planning to consider a different approach to increase the probability of approval. They would be deputing me to one of their regional HQ (Thailand, China, Germany or Brazil) for 4-6 weeks for a project. Post that I would be applying L1B from there. My questions:

1. Does this approach increase probability of approval? any experiences in this context, any old thread if active on this topic would also help
2. Any idea about approval rates in these countries? (Thailand, China, Germany and Brazil)
3. My wife would be accompanying me as dependent. where would she be needed to apply?
4. Any specific preparation to do while applying for L1B from another country?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

GSM

My L1B visa got approved today at the Singapore Embassy Of The United States Of America.

It lasted for 8 mins.

Here is what I have been asked:

How many applicants?
Who is the primary applicant?
What is your relationship?
Which company do you work for?
How many years are you working in your company?
Where are you going to the US?
How many years are you planning to work there?
What's your role?
What special skills you have that you are the only one going in the US?
What tools do you use? Is it a product or a service?
What does this tool do?
What is your father in law's name?
Have you visited the USA before?
When did you visit the USA last?
When was the first time you visited the US?
Have you worked there in the US before?
What visa did you visit US before?
Show me your old passport where B1 visa is shown.
What date you are married?

To my wife:
What's your mother in law's name?
How long have you been known to each other?
How did you meet?

And the golden words: I am approving your visa, good luck.

Here are the questions for us:
1. How are you doing..
A: Doing good, thank you

2. Which company are you working for?
A: YYYY

3. How long have been working for this company?
A; X years

4. VO asked, is it for L1B that you applied for?
A: No, it is for L1A

5. With which VISA you visited US before?
A: B1

6. How long you stayed there in the last visit?
A: 1 week

7. So, you never had an L1 Visa?
A: No

8. How many people report to you ?
A: xx

9. How many will be reporting to you?
A: xx and I will be hiring more

10/ What is the title of the people reporting to you?
A: Answered as per mine

11. to my wife: How long you have been married?
A: She asnwered

12: what is both of your highest educationn
A: Answered

13: To my daughter: What is your age
A; Answered

Done, your visa is approved.