L1, L2 Visa

Time to give back to this very useful forum.
back in July 2017 , my blanket was rejected , it was little over 5 min conversation with all the questions around Title, Reporting, Salary, duties but more focused on reporting.
My visa was rejected with "Not Clearly Approvable" remark"
Questions asked were very similar to what has been posted by other friends so i will not repeat, my message for those going for blanket is , in Blanket interview decision is entirely upto Consular's judgment and has narrow margin for error. I think i should have been more prepared for Blanket with crisp answers . Anyway for to those appearing for Blanket , prepare answer to What do you do and what you will be doing , Challenge yourself to answer this in less than 30 second without missing key managerial duties as per USCIS.

After my Blanket rejection i was damn frustrated and dejected, But legal team told me that Blanket has history of higher rejections. so we applied to USCIS for individual petition under premium processing. Since i was involved in every step of my application i learned a lot about this visa category after lot of follow up and discussion with Legal . so here is overall timeline .
We got RFE for my Petition , which is very common these days for USCIS petitions so don’t stressed out. After we replied to RFE I got my approval the next day.
( in case anyone interested in details about filing individual petition , responding to RFE feel free to reach out to me )

==== My Individual L1 Interview at Mumbai =====
Scheduled time : 11.15 AM
Reached consulate at : 10.50 AM
Out of consulate : 11.15 AM ( we were fast tracked due to infant , fast enough to not give any time for unnecessary stress out )

Me: Good Morning Officer
VO: Good morning , give me your Passport and I797

VO: so you work for Halliburton
Me: yes sir

VO: What do you do for Halliburton
Me: started explaining my duties at a bit of faster speed

VO: I am unable to understand can you tell me what’s your designation
Me: Technology Leader

VO: ok your blanket was rejected and you applied for individual after that
Me: yes sir

VO: so what would you be doing in US
Me: explained in details that I will be managing global groups of Software professional across 4 countries and mentioned my authorities in the role ( 3-5 sentences )

VO: how much will they be paying you
Me : 6 digit US salary + Stock options

VO: ok all your visas are approved you may go now.

I think the decision was made before our conversation , consular only looked at me once in the beginning and then after he continued to do his job on computer.
He just glanced at my family and no question , the entire conversation was less than 3 min .

My few cents :
1. Do not arrive more than 15 min before your interview. This will avoid unnecessary waiting and inheriting other’s stress
2. You will feel anxious , stress will be high , no need to avoid that emotion , everyone has it just make sure it doesn’t reflect when you start conversation. Imagine yourself talking to your senior management in lift
3. If you qualify for this VISA its yours. But when so many people want to go to US and not every visa can be approved , don’t feel dejected if blanket doesn’t go through.
4. Company prefer blanket because its faster but if it doesn’t go thgouth you have more robust Individual petition approach , its time consuming and patience tester but your case will not be fully at the discretion of consulate.

In case you guys have more questions feel free to reach out to me @ [email protected]

Sachin