L1B interview scheduled 25 Oct 2021

[GSM1989]

Hello Folks,

I have my L1B interview scheduled in Chennai for 25 Oct 21. My questions

1. My VAC appointment is on 10 AM morning and Consular at 2 PM. Would it be a worry if I have both on same day? How much time the VAC take?
2. My area of work is Human Resources, any views as to how much favorable are the consulates for these profiles?
3. I do not have a NIE from employer. Any tip/experiences about VISA without NIE, and probability of approvals/ esp. with current situation, are they ok for VISAs without NIE
4. What is the overall sentiment of US consulates on approving VISA now?

Thanks,

Gaurav.

[GSM1989]

Hello, can anyone help with above questions?

[Deepika1610]

We have our appointments scheduled in the gap of 2 hours between VAC And VI ON NOV 15TH. Having same question if this time will suffice.

[ansimn]

VAC and consulate are nearby only, travel time is 15 mnts. Typical time taken in VAC is 45 mnts. Hence I think you can manage both sessions.
NIE or any supportive document is required by Consulate to approve your visa.
I'm trying to schedule a L1 visa for the past 1 week. But I could not find a slot for chennai consulate.
Can you provide some tips how to get visa interview slots

[Priyarkumar18]

Hi There,

When did you book the appointment? The appointments I am seeing are only for Oct 2022. Any idea why I am not seeing any earlier appointments?

Thanks!

[Deepika1610]

You need to keep checking.

[Deepika1610]

Hi,
how was your interview experience?
Was the time sufficient for vac and VI

[GSM1989]

Yes time was sufficient. Biometric hardly takes 10-15 min. So dont worry. Below is my experience, I have posted in "experiences" section too.

A BIGG thank you to this forum for all the experiences and questions, they were extremely useful and encouraging. Following is my experience:
1. Where would you be working in US?
2. How long have you been with the company?
3. What is your role? further 1-2, follow up questions about the role
4. How many direct reports? 5. How big is HR Team?
5. What is your offered salary?
6. Why cant this job be done from here ? (I was starting to get nervous)
7. Do you have authority to hire and fire people ? (This was question I had read before in forum, so had prepared well, yet fumbled due to nervousness!)
8. Do you work on any data that cant be accessed from US? (again this question, I had read before, but my nervousness was increasing)
9. the insights that you draw and analysis that you do, is on any tool or any software? Who works and who uses it?
11. When do you plan to go to US?
After 2 seconds, he asked me to scan 4 fingers on to the biometric machine and stamped the I-129. He said your visas are approved, I have asked for NIE in case you wish to travel before 8 Nov. After that, you wont require NIE, all the best! I thanked the VO and was relieved.

Learnings and recommendations:

1. I-129S documentation and company letter had some deviation from my current and past roles and it was not matching with DS 160. Again, after reading experiences, I asked my Attorney, to change and align I-129S with DS 160. The paper size of US A4 and India A4 is slightly different and the color as well, so the difference was visible yet VO dint ask me anything about it. But do ensure the documentation is right.
2. Only document he checked was I-129S and possibly DS 160 on screen. nothing else, So revise the two documents thoroughly.
3. He was approving most of the L1 visa, yet I saw 2 of them rejected, and only reason I could guess was communication. Both of them were slightly weak in communication. I am not discouraging anyone here, but just conveying that possibly communication plays a key role in interviews.
4. Throughout the interview of 6-7 min, he was grilling, I was fumbling, yet I was answering the truth, was having eye contact and 'Trying to Engage' the VO. That was my determination throughout that no matter what and how much he asks, I want to engage him in conversation. Possibly that attitude showed up on my face although I fumbled a lot while answering. So keep your attitude clean and be truthful, it shows up the confidence in your face even if you are not performing well.
5. My area of work was Human Resources, so unlike IT folks, I really dint have a strong technology specialization of any tool or software. Mine was functional specialization in compensation which was possibly difficult to understand for VO. But I tried my best to explain.

All the Very Best to all of you! GSM

[rkk09]

Hi There,

When did you book the appointment? The appointments I am seeing are only for Oct 2022. Any idea why I am not seeing any earlier appointments?

Thanks!

Hi Member,
Yes. Chennai consulate OFC appointment earliest date is only Oct 2022. We will need to wait for some time to see the Interview dates.
Thanks.

[rkk09]

Yes time was sufficient. Biometric hardly takes 10-15 min. So dont worry. Below is my experience, I have posted in "experiences" section too.

A BIGG thank you to this forum for all the experiences and questions, they were extremely useful and encouraging. Following is my experience:
1. Where would you be working in US?
2. How long have you been with the company?
3. What is your role? further 1-2, follow up questions about the role
4. How many direct reports? 5. How big is HR Team?
5. What is your offered salary?
6. Why cant this job be done from here ? (I was starting to get nervous)
7. Do you have authority to hire and fire people ? (This was question I had read before in forum, so had prepared well, yet fumbled due to nervousness!)
8. Do you work on any data that cant be accessed from US? (again this question, I had read before, but my nervousness was increasing)
9. the insights that you draw and analysis that you do, is on any tool or any software? Who works and who uses it?
11. When do you plan to go to US?
After 2 seconds, he asked me to scan 4 fingers on to the biometric machine and stamped the I-129. He said your visas are approved, I have asked for NIE in case you wish to travel before 8 Nov. After that, you wont require NIE, all the best! I thanked the VO and was relieved.

Learnings and recommendations:

1. I-129S documentation and company letter had some deviation from my current and past roles and it was not matching with DS 160. Again, after reading experiences, I asked my Attorney, to change and align I-129S with DS 160. The paper size of US A4 and India A4 is slightly different and the color as well, so the difference was visible yet VO dint ask me anything about it. But do ensure the documentation is right.
2. Only document he checked was I-129S and possibly DS 160 on screen. nothing else, So revise the two documents thoroughly.
3. He was approving most of the L1 visa, yet I saw 2 of them rejected, and only reason I could guess was communication. Both of them were slightly weak in communication. I am not discouraging anyone here, but just conveying that possibly communication plays a key role in interviews.
4. Throughout the interview of 6-7 min, he was grilling, I was fumbling, yet I was answering the truth, was having eye contact and 'Trying to Engage' the VO. That was my determination throughout that no matter what and how much he asks, I want to engage him in conversation. Possibly that attitude showed up on my face although I fumbled a lot while answering. So keep your attitude clean and be truthful, it shows up the confidence in your face even if you are not performing well.
5. My area of work was Human Resources, so unlike IT folks, I really dint have a strong technology specialization of any tool or software. Mine was functional specialization in compensation which was possibly difficult to understand for VO. But I tried my best to explain.

All the Very Best to all of you! GSM

Hi Member,
Thanks so much for detailed experience sharing.. It really helps and boosting others. I personally learned many things from your experience..
Congratulation for visa approval.
Thanks