H1B, H4 Visa

Our visa appointment is at 9:00 AM.
I reached consulate at 8:40 AM and I could see two long queues , one for 9:00 AM interview and other form 9:30AM
I stood in 9:00 queue and after 20 minutes , it started moving.

Don't reach too early. Reaching 10 -15 mins early is more than enough.

One guy who was sitting in the queue , 100 feet before the main front of entrance, checked our passport numbers and sent us in to the main entrance.

Mobile phones, Pen drives and other electronic devices are not allowed. Back packs, Ladies hand bags are not allowed .
Carry only document holders (not necessarily transparent ones, I could see many persons carrying non transparent file holders. As long its meant for carrying documents, you can bring them in) to carry all your supporting documents.

There is a locker facility available near the queue, ~100 feet from the main entrance, where you can keep your mobiles/pen drives and other electronic devices. The size of the locker shop is very small, its like 1 cubic meter - cart shop. But they provide electronic bills for your belongings. They just tie your belongings in a cloth bag and keep it inside. I enquired the consulate securities if the locker facility and the locker shop staffs are reliable. They confirmed that its reliable.

Security check - the main entrance .

Display your appointment letter, Passport and DS160 confirmation page (same printout which were stamped at OFC , the previous day). Do not remove the bar-code sticker from the passport that was pasted at OFC. The securities look for OFC seal.

I see an applicant brought another DS160 confirmation page ( another printout of DS160 with out OFC seal) to consulate. He was discussing about this to consulate securities the next day) and another guy does not have print out , he was sent to get the printout of appoitnment letter.

Its all similar to airport check - manual check and metal detector check and scanner to scan your document holders. Place your wallet, file holders and other belonging like ID card. I brought only my ID card and did not bring my electronic access/swipe card thinking it would not be allowed. NO electronic watches.

Inside the consulate , they check your passport and DS160 and appointment letter and asked us to stand in a finger prints verification counter.
Then they verify your finger prints and let you inside another hall.

They did not check my I-797 and other documents and I was not sure of the order of documents that I need to give to the interviewer.

VFS guys randomly called applicants and said go to this counter sir, you to that counter sir . No token issued for visa interview counters. I was not sure if the queue was for Visa interview or for documents check. All other applicants felt the same and was asking each other if this is the VISA interview counter and order of documents to present. Later we identified that its the Visa interview queue. I took my passport , DS160 and I-797 . Rest of the documents in my documents holder.

PLEASE CARRY YOUR PASSPORT SIZE PHOTOGRAPHS

I could see that for some applicants, Photo was not captured correctly or not uploaded correctly at OFC. So they asked photographs of the applicants. We did not bring our photographs. One applicant did not bring his photograph. Attender said "Sir your photo was not uploaded properly. So please give us your passport photo." He said he doesn't have . They asked him to go out and get the photographs and come back. Fortunately, I did not face this problem .

Visa officers are friendly and they ensure that you get what they ask you. They repeat the words if you dont get the meaning correctly. we waited for our turn and it was 9:40 AM. Just stay relaxed and listen carefully.

VO called us and greeted us with smile

VO : Good morning
We : good morning Sir

VO : Can I have your passports?
We : Sure. Handed over the passports.

VO : Which employer you work for ?
I : YYYY [ Please answer your US employer name - Petitioner . My employer in India and US have different names]

VO : Who is your client ?
I : YYYYY . [He didn get this clearly. so he repeated the client name. I replies, Yes , its YYYY ]

VO : Whats the client location
I : AAAAA, a suburb of BBBB

VO : Where are you gonna live there ?
I : I misunderstood this question and thought he asked me where I was gonna settle there ? I replied, "No I am just going to work there in BBBB".

VO : Yes, I understand that, but Where will you live?
I : I understood that he was asking me where I would be staying .
I : I replied , somewhere near AAAA, around BBBB.

VO : AAAA is not in BBBB, Its a different place.
I : I said oh OK, some where near AAAA. [I know its a suburb of BBBB. But I didn't say anything]

VO : Do you know whats famous over there ?
[He wants to know if we some basic information about the place, we are gonna visit/stay]
I : There are good corn fields over there and it's a cold place.

VO : Yes, There are good corn fields. There are very good and big apple farms all over AAAA.
We : smiling at him and listening all

VO : Do you drink ?
I : I smiled and replied him looking at wife "This is my wife . So I don't drink :-)"

VO : Smiled . You get some quality beers over there as there are apple farms and its a nice place .
We : smiled . Thanks for the information

He didn't ask any questions to my wife.
Then the golden words " I am approving your Visas, Please read this pamphlet that describes your US rights"
We thanked him and said "Have a good day Sir"

After hearing my employer name, I could see that VO was convinced. So I was sure that we would get my visa.

Some Visa interview questions while I was waiting for my turn

H4 interview

1. What happened in August 2012? Applicant didn't answer. VO replied "You got married Maam"
2. Can I see your marriage certificate ?
3. Why do you want this Visa ?

B1 interview
1. Purpose of visit ? Training and KT and meetings
2. who all are gonna attend this meeting. I need their designations?.
3. How much experienced are you ?
4. With only this much of experience, you are going to have a meeting with senior leaders?

H1B
1. I see you have been to US already and why its not mentioned here ?
He replied its on different category. VO is convinced.