L1, L2 Visa

Hello Friends,

First of all , I would like to thank this amazing website which gives loads of useful info to prepare for visa interview . Thank You ImmiHelp .ImmiHelp Rocks .

My L1B Individual Visa is approved . Here is my overall experience.

BioMetric Appointment : DS160 Confirmation page,Appointment Confirmation,MRV Fee payment receipts,Passport.These are main documents needed for this appointment . There is no need of carrying all of your educational/technical/work based/personal identity based documents .No one asks for it . For your confidence/comfort you may carry if you want . I myself carried it but as i said no one looks at those documents . At end of collecting your fingerprint and photo , they will stamp on your DS160 page and will paste a sticker on back of passport . Make sure you preserve DS160 confirmation page very carefully as this stamp gets verified during main interview.

Consular Interview:DS160 Confirmation page,Appointment Confirmation,MRV Fee payment receipts,Passport,I797 approval page .These are main documents needed for this appointment . But you will need to carry many other supporting documents like I129,educational certificates,payslips,marriage certificate,marriage photo,letter to officer,offer letter,your organizational chart just in case officer wants to review in your case . Actually , all of these documents may already be part of huge pile of documents which your attorney/law guy would have submitted for petition and would have handed a copy to you .If not,collect all of them well in advance and carry all of them .

Coming back to process , get ready to stand for around 2 hours in around 5 queues during entire process unless you are accompanied by kids < 5 yrs of age .You will see yourself moving in fast lane if you attend with kids <5 yrs of age . Anyways, Dont forget to have your breakfast before you get there .

I would say keep DS160 Confirmation page,Appointment Confirmation,MRV Fee payment receipts,Passport,I797 approval page in one simple small file and rest of all documents in other file/folder.Reason being , those 5 documents are the ones which gets frequently verified in all 4 queues.So there is no point in having huge pile of documents in single file and end up searching for these documents among huge bunch of documents . Atleast have them sorted out with those 5 documents placed on top of anything else .
1st queue verifies your DS160 confirmation page,passport and Appointment confirmation.2nd queue is for security check of yourself,folders.3rd queue is to verify those 5 documents again .4th queue is to reverify your finger prints .So make sure you dont have finger cut in between Biometrics and this interview .You will then move towards 5th queue where you will be asked for type of visa whether L1 individual or blanket and will be directed towards different queues . Here's my conversation

VO:Hello
Me:Hi
VO:Which company do you work for
Me:Replied
VO:What is your total years of experience working there
Me:Replied
VO:What is your highest qualification
Me:Replied
VO:For now,we cannot convey if your visa is approved or rejected.Your case will have to go through administrative processing . You will have to wait for message/mail from us regarding further updates or steps in this process . Here's your 221g form

Obviously,i got extremely disappointed,worried and sad after hearing this . I came out and read 221g form completely . 221g form will have various reasons for administrative processing.Mine was just marked under 'Needs Administrative processing'.There were other choices to provide additional documents as part of administrative processing . Since mine was not marked under that section,i didnt had to do anything other than to wait . I was wondering why i was not asked about 'specialization,US salary,current role,project' based questions which i read in this forum as most frequently asked questions . I came back home,started browsing to understand more about administrative processing and came to conclusion that this is for security and background verification purpose and may take anytime between 1 week to 2 months .I moved my focus towards daily work and continued to pray god.No use of continuously worrying about reason for delay as we cant do anything anyways .If God wills,nothing can stop your visa from being approved . Based on DS160 application id or case number on 221g form , we can track visa status online.Mine was set to administrative processing.Obviously , i was tracking my status atleast 5 times per day.

Fortunately,after 1 week ,i saw visa status changed from administrative processing to issued,got mail after 4 hours that my passport is collected from consulate and is currently at my preferred pickup place.Pumped up with excitement,joy,happiness i rushed to collect my passport.You will need copy of your identity proof,original identity proof,DS160 confirmation page,Appointment confirmation page to collect passport.I submitted all these and lived my dream moment of seeing L1 Visa stamped on my passport . It really was amazing priceless moment.

I would say keep doing good work,pray and have faith in god,have patience and you will surely fulfill your dream of moving to USA one day.Finally , i would request you to not forget to post your experience here to help others .

All the Best Buddies .