L1, L2 Visa

hey guys...i might sound cliched now, but i thank all of you who posted their experiences here and i deem it my responsibility to post mine. i had my interview today at 10:15 hrs in chennai for an l1-blanket.

Was a big queue today as there were 598 applications to be interviewed, the staff told me !!!!

i was waiting from 9:15 outside till i was let in at 10:10. had my docs verified. Interestingly, the verifier kept the 'company letter' outside the BEP folder (the one that specified your specialized expertise). The idea is to not disturb this arrangement and hand it over to the visa officer when he requests for information.

there were quite a few rejections today as I saw atleast 3 ppl rejected in my queue (of 7 or 8) and two of them were L1 blankets

I proceeded to the counter
me: hello, how'r u doing ?
vo: hello, i am fine
vo: can you hand me your documents ?
me: hand him the folder (minus the company letter)
vo: can you place your thumb in the scanner ?
vo: signalling to my spouse, can you too place your thumb in the scanner ?
vo: thats good, so how long are have you stayed with YYYY X
me: x years and y months
vo: who is your client ?
me: ABCVD
vo: what is your role ?
me: i am a business analyst by profession
vo: hmmmm, ....typing something in the screen for a long time
vo: how long have you stayed with this client
me: (i anticipated this cross question)
    i am only starting my engagement with this client. but i have executed similar projects for other clients of xxxx.
vo: which clients are these
me: GGGGG and HHHHHH
vo: scribbles gggg in the ds-156 docs
vo: hmmmmm...so what did you do in this previous company of yours 88888...wait, tell me what you did in 9999999.
me: i was a Senior Developer implementing ...blah blah blah
(again a long pause from the vo)
vo: makes notes on the ds-156 docs, puts on some seals and says the golden words...ok you can collect your passport early next week.
me: thank you. have a nice day ( i collect my docs and miss collecting my folder from him :) )


Learnings
1. prepare yourself for some cross questions
2. dont get distracted by other people taking interview
3. keep smiling and try to hold your nerves no matter what.
4. DRESS in FORMALS. I dressed up in proper formals and to my dismay (or advantage rather) saw loads of our guys abysmally dressed in the hall.
5. You have only 3-4 mins with the VO, the easiest way to impress him is to dress good. Dont know why people fail to read this simple fact !