H1B, H4 Visa

Here is my recent H1B experience at Hyderabad consulate:

Background :
I am a FTE for a tech Big4 company. H1B Visa was approved last year without RFE.

Biometrics : ( 5th November 2019 )
Nothing special..drop by...submit fingerprints..and leave.

Visa interview : ( 7th November 2019 )
Passport was already collected and handed over to the VO

VO : So...you work for A**on right ?
Me : Yes
VO : What is your salary ?
Me : My base salary was 110K and got bumped to 142k last month ( did not get a chance to explain about the total comp )
VO : What is your role ?
Me : Software Development Engineer
VO : Is this your first H1B ?
Me : Yes
VO : Your visa has been issued

CEAC status :
7th Nov - Admin processing
8th Nov - Admin processing
9th Nov - holiday
10th Nov - holiday
11th Nov - Veteran's day
12th Nov 3 pm - Issued

Based on my experience, I think most of the time, the decision has been made prior to the interview. The interview is to just check for any false positives. If you work for a reputed American company, your rejection chances are low as the taxes you are going to pay are very much appreciated. My interview was hardly 30 sec.

Here is my experience as of today :

Mine is 2nd H1B Stamping with same company ( Full time )

30th Oct - Dropped documents at Hyd Consulate for drop box.

1st Nov - Received an email asking to pick up my passports (At this point of time I did not know that my visa is still in Administrative processing) . Picked up the passport on the same day along with white slip . I was advised to attend Visa interview ( Just principal applicant).

6th Nov - Attended interview and below is how it went.

Me : Good morning officer .
Vo : Good morning .

Vo : So you work for YYYY company .
Me : Yes .

Vo: Is your previous H1 with same company ,
me : Yes - same company.

Vo: What is your designation.
Me : YYYY X

Vo : So your path is from F1 -> OPT -> H1B
Me : Yes .

Vo : which university
me : mentioned the name .

Vo: Were you ever out of status ?
Me : No. Not at all.

Vo; Okay . Your case has to go through administrative processing - Hence I am giving you a white slip ( It has nothing - just mentioning that I will have to go through administrative processing) & retained passports.
Me: How much time it would actually take ?

Vo: May be 1 -2 weeks - we need to correct something in our system - dont worry.
Me : thank you.

My case was updated on 6th Nov and there is no update since then - It just stays administrative processing.

Anyone in similar scenario ?

Keeping it short. Mine was a COS from F1 to H1-B, kicked in on October 1, 2019.
I applied for the interview at US consulate in New Delhi.

OFC - Oct 30th, 2019 at 3.30pm
Was smooth. I did not carry my phone to the OFC center. In and out in 15 minutes.

Interview - Oct 31st, 2019 at 10.15 am.
Reached Consulate at 10am. Had to wait for an hour. Interview finally began at 11.45 am.

Interview Experience:
The guy before me was applying for a B-1 visa but was giving really shady answers and contradicted his own statements when the VO tried to question him in detail. He pissed off the VO and I was afraid the VO might take it out on me.

When asked, I approached the VO.
Documents asked : Passport, I-797

Questions:
a. Tell me about your company, your role and responsibilities ?
b. How did you get this job ?
c. Salary ?

VO kept passport, returned I-797 and told me passport will be available in 7-10 days [NO SLIPS given] . I should have confirmed if the visa was approved.

30th Oct, 2019 Case Created :
31st Oct, 2019 : Administrative Processing

No updates since then. Not sure if the VO meant 7-10 business days or regular days. Although 12 days have passed by since interview, only 6 business days have passed till Nov 12 [2 weekends, US Veterans Day, Guru Nanak holiday]. Waiting for a status update.

Anyone have similar experiences at Delhi or any other consulate ?

 

Hello group,

Me and my spouse attended for h1 & h4 visa interview in September and we were given 221g amd all our documents, including passports, were returned back to us.

We submitted all the necessary documentation stated in the 221g sheet and we got an email from the consulate acknowledging that the received all the required documentation.

It's been more than a month and we are still awaiting a response. The status still shows as administrative processing.

Now, my worry is that the client is getting restless day after day. I was wondering what would happen to my h1 if the client ends up breaking my contract, as it is getting very delayed?

Please someone let me know about the fate of h1 if we lose the client during administrative processing.

Does anyone know who contacts the Client for verification for 221g issued during the interview? Does US Consulate contact client directly or US Consulate asks USCIS help to complete client verification?

Hi,

Had my H1 visa interview on Oct 24th, 2019 in Chennai Consulate

The VO remained very stern throughout the 20 mins of our discussion and hardly made an eye contact with me 😊

The following questions were asked :

1. Which place are you going to?
2. What is the address of your US office?
3. What is the offered salary?
4. Is it an in-house or client project?
5. Can you elaborate the job duties?
6. Can’t this work be done by an American? Why do you think you are needed for this?
7. What does your company specialize in?
8. How many employees are currently working in the US office?

I answered to the point for all these questions (Hardly a sentence for each).

After this, the VO took the “Job Duties” letter alone from me and issued a 221g-Blue Slip in which he ticked the following :

“Your application is refused for administrative processing. The application will be reconsidered when administrative processing is complete”.

I asked if he needed any other documents. He said that he doesn't need any other document from me, returned my passport and asked me to leave.

Am still waiting for an update. This wait is intolerable!

Hi ,
  I had my VISA interview on Nov04th 2019 at Hyderabad Consulate, VO said it will take 7 days to verify and VO didn't gave me any slip.
  Nov 04th - Case Created - Administrative Processing
  Nov 08th - Last Updated - Administrative Processing

 I had to reschedule my flight from Nov 11th to Nov17th, I am so worried.
 I am planning to send an email to "[email protected]" to get latest status. Any suggestions ??
 Anyone been in this situation and know how long will it take to update ??

Thanks In Advance

 

Okay. So our case is a little bit complicated. But any help or experience shared would be very very very helpful. Thanks to everyone contributing in advance :)

My H1B started from Oct 1, 2019 and my husband has is H4 visa interview very soon.

1. Our wedding was done at a registar's office in India and we have the marriage certificate for the wedding. However, due to the ugly cicrumcstances we were at during our wedding - we dont really have any ceremony pictures. Now that I am here and he is applying for is H4. How problematic is this going to be? Do the VO's always ask for wedding album? Or what would be the best answer for not having the wedding album? Or would you guys recommend explaining the VO honestly as to what happened?

2. Is it okay that he is going for his H4 visa prior to my stamping?

We are a little lost and super stressed about the situation. Any response will be very helpful.

Thanks :)

Hi, If anyone has experienced the same, kindly post.

I picked up my passport after drop box on nov 5 and attended visa interview on nov 7. I remember the visa officer retaining the passport. However, the passport tracker portal shows that "passport has been picked up". Which I believe is the old status. I emailed usatraveldocs but didn't find any useful info but just a suggestion to check regarding the case after atleast 180 days. If any one has experienced a similar situation, kindly post if this is expected or if you did anything to know about the right status.

Thank you

Hello Frnds,

Appeared interview on Oct' ending.

My H1B is approved after 3 days of admin processing at hyd consulate, however my wife H4 is still stuck at admin processing.

We attended interview together at hyd consulate, mine is COS from F1 to H1B and my wife is consular processing from F2 to H4, initially my company filed COS application for my wife in the month of July 2019 but we had to travel outside of US due to personal reasons in the month of oct and abandoned COS processing from F2 to H4.

I work as an FTE with a product company, both passports were retained by VO and provided 221g white slip with 2nd checkbox marked.

My passport is stamped and returned, however, my spouse passport is still with embassy. Anyone been in this situation and know how long it will take for my spouse H4 to be approved ?

Thanks in advance.