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Visa
L1, L2 Visa
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L1A Blanket Approved on 3-Nov in Chennai
I owe a lot to this forum for my L1A visa interview preparation - hence I felt morally obligated to give back to this forum my experience, understanding and thoughts/tips about the process
Background:
I had 2 L1B's previously and 1 B1 which is valid at present. I have also travelled to USA multiple times for a total of 5 years in USA.
Experience:
I will skip the part about the Chennai weather, loooong queue and all the process before the interview because those have been talked about in most other posts and get down straight to the interview.
Me: Hi! Good Morning.
VO: Good morning.
VO: So..you are applying for L1A visa for XYZ company.
Me: That is correct.
VO: Who will your client be?
Me: ABC Company
VO: What is your yearly salary in USA?
Me: $72,000
VO: How many people will be reporting to you directly?
Me: Directly - 5, 4 indirect
VO: And what are their job titles?
Me: 4 Project Managers, 1 Senior Software engineer
VO: And what will your job title be?
Me: Onsite Delivery Manager
VO: What will your responsibilities be?
Me: As an onsite delivery manager, there are 2 parts of my job. In the first part, I will be managing a portfolio of 8 projects which involves..
VO: (cutting me off)..And what is the second part?
Me: The second part is assisting in growth of Type B (new projects) and Type C (business from existing projects in the form of change requests, enhancements etc.) revenues
VO: And who will you be reporting to, Sir?
Me: Client Partner, who manages multiple client relationships.
VO: What are the multiple clients he handles?
Me: At the moment DEF and GHI clients.
VO: Ok, Sir, I am approving your visa. I will keep one of these, please give one of these to your HR and the other to the immigration when you land in USA.
Me: Thanks. Much appreciated.
VO: You have a great day
Me: You too. Bye!
Myths:
After reading through innumerable posts on this forum and talking to associates in my company - some of them approved and some of them rejected - and finally attending the interview myself, first of all, I would like to debunk some myths around the process:
Myth: Approval or rejection is divine luck
Truth: Though luck does play a big part and prayers will always help, but that is not all. Proper preparation ultimately pays off.
Myth: You need to have minimum 12 years of experience to crack it.
Truth: I have 10.2 years of experience. I have heard (though cannot guarantee it) that associates with 8/9 years of experience have also cracked the interview.
Myth: Your USA salary needs to be minimum 80K to qualify as a manager
Truth: My USA salary is $72,000 and I know at least 5 other people with the same salary who have cracked the interview
Myth: More the number of direct reportees, the better chances you have
Truth: I have heard/seen people with only one direct reportee getting through
Understanding:
What I am going to write now are my personal opinions and hence will differ from a lot of other people in this forum. According to me, there are 3 crucial aspects that the VO's check in the interview:
1. Confidence: Though you can generally feel confident if you prepare well, however, if you will actually work as a manager in USA that gives a level of confidence that no preparation can give. The VO checks for this confidence (they are trained to) during the entire 2-3 minutes of the interview. Hence it is crucial to have the confidence and let your body language show it off. Also crucial is to maintain eye contact with the VO since that is also another sign of confidence.
2. Crucial question number 1 - What is your job title and your roles/responsibilities: Everyone preparing for L1A knows the importance of this question and they really prepare for this. However, there are some subtle points that I would like to stress. First is the word project should always be in plural; meaning you will be handling multiple projects. Second is your should try to use keywords like portfolio management, risk management, metrics reporting etc. Third is that you should try to find one thing about your job that probably noone else will mention in this forum. For me, I mentioned about my role in Type B and Type C business growth (see questions above). Try to find something unique (in a managerial sense) about your position.
3. Crucial question number 2 - Who will you be reporting to: Often, we make the mistake of answering this in one/two words. It is important to remember that you only have 2/3 minutes to convince the VO - so make the most of it. Mention the job title of your supervisor ALONG WITH HIS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES in 1 sentence. Also make sure that your supervisor is at such a level that makes you a manager of multiple projects. What I mean is if you say that your manager is an account manager, managing one account, that makes you a project manager and hence ruins your chances. Think about it.
All in all, good preparation (which involves pouring over the posts in this forum for at least the first 20 pages) and confidence should make you successful.
Cheers and good luck
Background:
I had 2 L1B's previously and 1 B1 which is valid at present. I have also travelled to USA multiple times for a total of 5 years in USA.
Experience:
I will skip the part about the Chennai weather, loooong queue and all the process before the interview because those have been talked about in most other posts and get down straight to the interview.
Me: Hi! Good Morning.
VO: Good morning.
VO: So..you are applying for L1A visa for XYZ company.
Me: That is correct.
VO: Who will your client be?
Me: ABC Company
VO: What is your yearly salary in USA?
Me: $72,000
VO: How many people will be reporting to you directly?
Me: Directly - 5, 4 indirect
VO: And what are their job titles?
Me: 4 Project Managers, 1 Senior Software engineer
VO: And what will your job title be?
Me: Onsite Delivery Manager
VO: What will your responsibilities be?
Me: As an onsite delivery manager, there are 2 parts of my job. In the first part, I will be managing a portfolio of 8 projects which involves..
VO: (cutting me off)..And what is the second part?
Me: The second part is assisting in growth of Type B (new projects) and Type C (business from existing projects in the form of change requests, enhancements etc.) revenues
VO: And who will you be reporting to, Sir?
Me: Client Partner, who manages multiple client relationships.
VO: What are the multiple clients he handles?
Me: At the moment DEF and GHI clients.
VO: Ok, Sir, I am approving your visa. I will keep one of these, please give one of these to your HR and the other to the immigration when you land in USA.
Me: Thanks. Much appreciated.
VO: You have a great day
Me: You too. Bye!
Myths:
After reading through innumerable posts on this forum and talking to associates in my company - some of them approved and some of them rejected - and finally attending the interview myself, first of all, I would like to debunk some myths around the process:
Myth: Approval or rejection is divine luck
Truth: Though luck does play a big part and prayers will always help, but that is not all. Proper preparation ultimately pays off.
Myth: You need to have minimum 12 years of experience to crack it.
Truth: I have 10.2 years of experience. I have heard (though cannot guarantee it) that associates with 8/9 years of experience have also cracked the interview.
Myth: Your USA salary needs to be minimum 80K to qualify as a manager
Truth: My USA salary is $72,000 and I know at least 5 other people with the same salary who have cracked the interview
Myth: More the number of direct reportees, the better chances you have
Truth: I have heard/seen people with only one direct reportee getting through
Understanding:
What I am going to write now are my personal opinions and hence will differ from a lot of other people in this forum. According to me, there are 3 crucial aspects that the VO's check in the interview:
1. Confidence: Though you can generally feel confident if you prepare well, however, if you will actually work as a manager in USA that gives a level of confidence that no preparation can give. The VO checks for this confidence (they are trained to) during the entire 2-3 minutes of the interview. Hence it is crucial to have the confidence and let your body language show it off. Also crucial is to maintain eye contact with the VO since that is also another sign of confidence.
2. Crucial question number 1 - What is your job title and your roles/responsibilities: Everyone preparing for L1A knows the importance of this question and they really prepare for this. However, there are some subtle points that I would like to stress. First is the word project should always be in plural; meaning you will be handling multiple projects. Second is your should try to use keywords like portfolio management, risk management, metrics reporting etc. Third is that you should try to find one thing about your job that probably noone else will mention in this forum. For me, I mentioned about my role in Type B and Type C business growth (see questions above). Try to find something unique (in a managerial sense) about your position.
3. Crucial question number 2 - Who will you be reporting to: Often, we make the mistake of answering this in one/two words. It is important to remember that you only have 2/3 minutes to convince the VO - so make the most of it. Mention the job title of your supervisor ALONG WITH HIS ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES in 1 sentence. Also make sure that your supervisor is at such a level that makes you a manager of multiple projects. What I mean is if you say that your manager is an account manager, managing one account, that makes you a project manager and hence ruins your chances. Think about it.
All in all, good preparation (which involves pouring over the posts in this forum for at least the first 20 pages) and confidence should make you successful.
Cheers and good luck
All Replies (1)
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