Hi,
I had two straight L1B rejects recently. I had penned down big matter in the thread below for clear understanding of my case. Sorry for it and please have the patience to bear it. Thanks
First Visa Interview: June 3rd 2014
My Company wants me to relocate to US for one critical project and applied for L1B-Blanket Visa. Following this, I had scheduled my first visa interview on June 3rd 2014 at Chennai. The questions were very obvious like: Working experience, where in US I will be relocating, my specialized knowledge, client name and any previous experience with the client. I answered them well and at the end it was a shock from the VO saying that "the Visa cannot be issued as per sec 214(b)". Following this, I discussed with my company's legal team and came to the following conclusions below for rejection:
1) The VO might have identified me as potential immigrant
2) The use of the word "Client" might have caused problems. The Consular might have thought that I will be managed by the client directly.
Hence our legal Fragomen team decided to reapply for the same L1B-Blanket and strengthened my petition as per the above conclusions and scheduled another interview.
Second Visa Interview: June 19th 2014
I had scheduled for another interview again on June 19th 2014 at the same Chennai Consulate. The detailed conversation is as follows:
Me: Good Morning Sir!!!
VO: Very Good morning!! How are you doing today?
Me: Doing good sir. How about you?
VO: Great Sir. Thank you
VO: So, How long you have been working with ZZZ?
Me: 2 years
VO: Where will you be working in US?
Me: ZZZ, at (location)office
VO: What is your specialized skill on?
Me: Explained briefly about the Company, my specialization area specifically on AAA and BBB tools and described my role in it.
VOlooked convinced)
VO: (Looked the info from the Application and asked is the client which I will be working with is "YYY"? )
Me: Yes. I will be offering engineering services at the client location from ZZZ's (location)office in which I will always be managed by an ZZZ's Senior Manager located on the same site and will be coordinating my daily technical and administrative support activities. (I tried stressing on this point as we believe one of the potential reasons for the denial could be not mentioning clearly)
VO: Ok. Clear. Understand.
VO: In which company did you work before joining ZZZ?
Me: This is my first job after my Master's degree.
VO:Oh ok. Cool
VO: What is your Master's specialization?
Me: Answered so & so from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). After the successful completion of my degree in 2012, I got selected by the current employer through Campus selection.
VO: Good. Excellent.
(VO looked at his computer and started typing for 3-4min and replied as follows....)
VO: Sir, There is absolutely no problem with your qualifications and skill sets that are needed for L1B. But at the very last moment, I rechecked the current petition number and it is exactly same to the previous petition number which you had used for the previous application and therefore the visa cannot be issued at the moment as per Section 8 CFR 214.2 (I)(ii)(D) and INA 101 (a)(15)(L). This is a problem with your HR. They should have made you applied with the Individual L1B or with L1B-Blanket with different petition number other than WAC-XX-ZZZ- YYYY X. I am sorry for keeping you in this embarrassed situation now. Your HR should have known about this. I encourage you to reapply through L1B-Individual or L1B-Blanket with different petition number.
I thought I was almost there and about to hear the GOLDEN words as the VO looked very positive and convinced towards my answers
I again discussed with my legal & HR teams to know about this crap. Their reply is that the VO made an incorrect decision in saying that I should have applied L1B-Blanket with different petition number as our YYYY is one single company and it will have one blanket petition number common for all the employees and told me that they will contact the US Consulate from their side for reconsideration. Meanwhile, they will also start filing L1B-Individual petition on my behalf under Premium Processing, which USCIS will process the petition in 15 calendar days. However if the RFE is issued, it will take another week to receive USCIS’ adjudication.
My Questions are as follows:
1) How far contacting the US Consulate will help? As an individual applicant, I know there is no such provision to ask for decision reconsideration. But in my case, the fragomen wants to contact on my behalf.
2) I am really concerned about the fate of next L1B-Individual Visa which I need to schedule soon once the docs are ready. What is the success rate of L1B Individual when compared to L1B-Blanket? Will my previous history of the recent 2 denials be having any effect during the third one? Actually, we should have applied for L1B-Individual straight after the first reject. But as per the suggestions of the legal team, we decided to reapply the same L1B-Blanket by adding more explanation to the petition to make the case clear.
3) What is issuing of RFE in reference to L1B-Individual?
I have been going through a tough phase in obtaining this L1 Visa done and is lowering the confidence. Any suggestions/tips on how to proceed in the next interview would be of great help.
Thanks. Appreciate your patience in reading the entire thread.
I had two straight L1B rejects recently. I had penned down big matter in the thread below for clear understanding of my case. Sorry for it and please have the patience to bear it. Thanks
First Visa Interview: June 3rd 2014
My Company wants me to relocate to US for one critical project and applied for L1B-Blanket Visa. Following this, I had scheduled my first visa interview on June 3rd 2014 at Chennai. The questions were very obvious like: Working experience, where in US I will be relocating, my specialized knowledge, client name and any previous experience with the client. I answered them well and at the end it was a shock from the VO saying that "the Visa cannot be issued as per sec 214(b)". Following this, I discussed with my company's legal team and came to the following conclusions below for rejection:
1) The VO might have identified me as potential immigrant
2) The use of the word "Client" might have caused problems. The Consular might have thought that I will be managed by the client directly.
Hence our legal Fragomen team decided to reapply for the same L1B-Blanket and strengthened my petition as per the above conclusions and scheduled another interview.
Second Visa Interview: June 19th 2014
I had scheduled for another interview again on June 19th 2014 at the same Chennai Consulate. The detailed conversation is as follows:
Me: Good Morning Sir!!!
VO: Very Good morning!! How are you doing today?
Me: Doing good sir. How about you?
VO: Great Sir. Thank you
VO: So, How long you have been working with ZZZ?
Me: 2 years
VO: Where will you be working in US?
Me: ZZZ, at (location)office
VO: What is your specialized skill on?
Me: Explained briefly about the Company, my specialization area specifically on AAA and BBB tools and described my role in it.
VOlooked convinced)
VO: (Looked the info from the Application and asked is the client which I will be working with is "YYY"? )
Me: Yes. I will be offering engineering services at the client location from ZZZ's (location)office in which I will always be managed by an ZZZ's Senior Manager located on the same site and will be coordinating my daily technical and administrative support activities. (I tried stressing on this point as we believe one of the potential reasons for the denial could be not mentioning clearly)
VO: Ok. Clear. Understand.
VO: In which company did you work before joining ZZZ?
Me: This is my first job after my Master's degree.
VO:Oh ok. Cool
VO: What is your Master's specialization?
Me: Answered so & so from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). After the successful completion of my degree in 2012, I got selected by the current employer through Campus selection.
VO: Good. Excellent.
(VO looked at his computer and started typing for 3-4min and replied as follows....)
VO: Sir, There is absolutely no problem with your qualifications and skill sets that are needed for L1B. But at the very last moment, I rechecked the current petition number and it is exactly same to the previous petition number which you had used for the previous application and therefore the visa cannot be issued at the moment as per Section 8 CFR 214.2 (I)(ii)(D) and INA 101 (a)(15)(L). This is a problem with your HR. They should have made you applied with the Individual L1B or with L1B-Blanket with different petition number other than WAC-XX-ZZZ- YYYY X. I am sorry for keeping you in this embarrassed situation now. Your HR should have known about this. I encourage you to reapply through L1B-Individual or L1B-Blanket with different petition number.
I thought I was almost there and about to hear the GOLDEN words as the VO looked very positive and convinced towards my answers
I again discussed with my legal & HR teams to know about this crap. Their reply is that the VO made an incorrect decision in saying that I should have applied L1B-Blanket with different petition number as our YYYY is one single company and it will have one blanket petition number common for all the employees and told me that they will contact the US Consulate from their side for reconsideration. Meanwhile, they will also start filing L1B-Individual petition on my behalf under Premium Processing, which USCIS will process the petition in 15 calendar days. However if the RFE is issued, it will take another week to receive USCIS’ adjudication.
My Questions are as follows:
1) How far contacting the US Consulate will help? As an individual applicant, I know there is no such provision to ask for decision reconsideration. But in my case, the fragomen wants to contact on my behalf.
2) I am really concerned about the fate of next L1B-Individual Visa which I need to schedule soon once the docs are ready. What is the success rate of L1B Individual when compared to L1B-Blanket? Will my previous history of the recent 2 denials be having any effect during the third one? Actually, we should have applied for L1B-Individual straight after the first reject. But as per the suggestions of the legal team, we decided to reapply the same L1B-Blanket by adding more explanation to the petition to make the case clear.
3) What is issuing of RFE in reference to L1B-Individual?
I have been going through a tough phase in obtaining this L1 Visa done and is lowering the confidence. Any suggestions/tips on how to proceed in the next interview would be of great help.
Thanks. Appreciate your patience in reading the entire thread.
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