L1, L2 Visa

Time to give back to the forum from which I have benefitted a lot. I gave an interview for Blanket L1A on 22 Sep. Sharing my experience, some recommendations and suggestions here for the use of others.
Stay: Based on a friend’s recommendation I stayed at ‘The Spring Hotel’, for proximity sake. Hotel is basic with decent amenities. Its not more than 10 mins walk away from both VAC and the consulate. The closest hotel to Consulate is The Park. Just have to come out and cross the road to reach the consulate.
Experience at VAC: ‘Fingerprint building’ is what it is known as with the locals. Entry to the building is from its rear end! Yeah weirdly enough. As expected a security guard checks your appointment confirmation letter and lets you in. There is a private photocopy and cyber center in the basement to help those who have got incorrect details in their DS 160. I am sure they charge a bomb. Next, Walk up to ground floor, another security guard asks for appointment time, confirms you have no bags or pend drives or phones etc. Be aware Not to carry phones or pen drives or even backpacks. That is right, even back packs with just the papers are not allowed too. If you do carry, you will have to keep it in a private locker in the basement for a fee of 50 bucks! That’s a rip off. Two women in ground floor confirm names and passport numbers on DS160 and let you in. Appointment timings are really a bummer here, there were people with 5PM appointment at 2PM. Anyway, next take the elevator to first floor. Security Check. Show your DS 160 and Passport, collect token number. There are about 9 counters in the floor. Token number and respective counter number is announced in a TV, just like in banks. At the counter : The lady asked me for my full name and DOB for confirmation. Then took my photo and finger prints of all 10 fingers. Done and get out. 15 to 20 minutes from entry to exit.
At the Consulate: First check point on foot path. A guy checks the passport number and makes an entry into is Tab. Continue walking on the heavily guarded footpath. One more check of passport and DS 160 on the other side of the building entry. Then one security guard checks if your clothes will tear off or if you skin will rip off. All and any of your effort for a crisp ironed clothes go down the drain here. You are allowed inside. Another security check, this time x-ray enabled. You are allowed inside a waiting room, and a one with fans. Looks like all Blanket L1 appointments are given morning slots. Nearly everyone around me at that time were applying for Blanket L1. Very few B1/B2. Two ladies ask you to take out the 8 pages of 129S and front page only of 797. They then staple them together (3 separate sets) and put them inside the passport along with DS 160. Next up, go to the next building and stand in another queue. A man at a window/counter confirms all the document numbers again and collects the $500 DD. Go to next counter where finger prints are confirmed. You are sent to another zig zag queue. While in this queue you can hear almost all of everyone’s interaction with the VO. We spent over 45 mins in this queue. I was dressed in formals and a tie. Quite many had come in a proper English suit too. But clearly that dint matter. Approval or rejection dint correlate to what people were wearing. While in the queue, like everyone else my wife and I had been keeping a tab of what is being asked, which officer is being kind or in good mood and who is giving a tuff time to applicants etc. These officers clearly have a lot of patience and give you multiple chances to be clear and sure. And IMO, they are there to give you a visa, unless you screw up badly or are faking or have got things really wrong. Like one person had gotten some document with end date updated as a day before start date! Nevertheless, at the end of the queue it was our turn go wait at the window. The applicant ahead of us finished his turn and moved away. We were gestured to come ahead. The moment of truth.
VO: How are you?
Me: Doing great, how have you been today?
VO: Good, Thank you. May I have your passport and documents please.
Me: Here you go.
VO: What company do you work for.
Me: ZZZ
VO: How long have you been working with ZZZ
Me: n years.
VO(while typing): What team do you manage?
Me: ABC team.
VO: What does the team do?
Me: Explained in two sentences and layman terms. No jargon.
VO: Oh, I have heard that there is a lot of need for this profile these days.
Me: Yes.
VO: (smiling) there has to be right, that is why your company is moving you there.
Me: Yes. (thinking if this meant Visa is approved?)
VO: How many people will report to you and how many under them?
Me: X number of people report to me and none reporting to them.
VO: (to my wife) What is your edu qualification?
Wife: zzz
VO: Do you plan to work in US?
Wife: yes
VO: Okay, make sure you get employment authorization before you start working.
Me and Wife: (Thinking, Does that mean we are in? ?) yes, sure.
VO: I will ask you one difficult question and Maam you shouldn’t help him. When did you both get married?
Me: I cannot forget this date and be alive. Its on xxxxxx.
All of us have a big laugh. She stamps our papers and gives to us and said the visa is approved. We turn around, and I see everyone in the queue were looking at us and smiling. I am now at the Chennai railway station waiting lounge writing this, and still smiling.

I have to say I was given a very good attorney from my company, to file my petition. He had spent quite some time with me on phone giving advices and doing mock interviews. I work for a very big S/W giant who can afford the best people in business. Not everyone might get equally good ones. So, sharing some advice here. Most importantly, Make sure you are very clear on what your role is, org structure is etc. Do a couple of rehearsals before you go. They are surely going to ask you about your role, what your team does and what you will do. These questions cannot be missed. Prepare a 2 to 3 sentence crisp answer without putting jargons or heavy words in it. Remember the officer in front of you might not even have seen Visual Studio in his/her life, might only know C as an alphabet. So prepare your answers as if you are explaining your role to your grandmother. Don’t go on endlessly explaining your day to day job or about a patent you have filed or your thesis. Infact, one officer today did tell one applicant ‘I don’t have all day, please explain in brief’. Communicate your role clearly in terms that connect to your application i.e. if L1A say you manage the team or if B, then say you have specialized skills. Don’t mess up by saying you specialize in managing etc. It will only confuse the person who has to hear applicant pleas every day.
Hope this long post serves useful.