H1B, H4 Visa

Biometrics: 27th ,march 2017
Visa interview: 28th, March
Hyderabad consulate.

Hello All,
I had my h1b stamping visa interview today. I recently changed from F1 to H1. VO asked about my client details ,client location,yearly annum & my background degree in Masters. She took my passport and gave me a 221g white slip which has case number & further info needed texbox checked in it. she told me to wait for 2 weeks and contact them if don't hear back anything after 2 weeks. Can someone please suggest howlong the process usually takes? I am a consultant works for end client through a consulting company. VO also told me not to book return ticket until i hear back from them, my online status showing as it is under "Administrative processing". Do i really get response in 2 weeks or it will take longer?? I have only planned for 3 weeks vacation and my client won't allow me to extend my leave only option is i have to leave my job!! Please advice.

Your responses are highly Appreciated!!

Hello All,

My wife appeared for H4 visa (renewal) interview on 24th March 2017. She got 221g (green slip) and asked to submit below documents.

Scan and submit the following as a pdf document:

Invitation: An invitation letter from the sponsoring organization in the US. For graduate students, workers, and exchange visitors, this letter should include the name of your supervisor or advisor and details about your work.

Submit all of the following information as a Word document:

Resume: A detailed resume/CV that lists your professional and/or academic backgrounds from your past/present work, three professional references, and a list of all publications.

Research: A complete and detailed description of 1) any research you intend to conduct in the US; and 2) all past and/or current research you have conducted in all countries. You must include a description of the practical applications of your research and study.

Position: Your current job title and a full description of your work.

Purpose: A detailed statement of purpose of your visit to the US.

Itinerary: An itinerary of all locations you will visit in the US, including dates, contact names, organizations, addresses, and telephone numbers.

Funding: Name of the person or organization that is funding your trip and your research.

Travelers: A list of all travelers who will accompany you, including family members and colleagues.

Travel: Dates and locations of all your international travel for last 10 year, except for US travel.

We are not sure why they have requested these papers.
I am concerned whether they need a invitation letter from me or from my company.
She has not done any research in USA or not even done any study in USA so what we need to say to answer to that query. (What should we have to submit in Research, Resume, Position ?)

Specially why they asked for Position . She is on H4 and she can't work. What should we have to submit ??

She is in USA since 2014 and she is a home maker. Even she is not doing any study in USA. She went to India in Jan 2017 for 3.5 months.

Visa officer asked below questions.

1. What’s your husband full name?
Ans -> xxxx
2. Is your daughter US citizen?
Ans -> yes
3. Whats your highest degree?
Ans -> MSC Microbiology
4. Do you have work experience?
Ans -> No. I’m home maker.
5. Whats your husband company name?
Ans -> xxxx
6. Whats year you have completed your masters?
Ans -> xxxx

Any help would be appreciated.

Please please help me.

Thanks,
Aashish

Im just copied a last template and edited the main contents because almost same happened to me:-)

Bio-metrics: 26th March 2017 2.15 PM
Visa Interview: 27th March 2017 9.30 AM
Interview for H1 and H4(Wife and Daughter)

At the counter, passport and DS-160 are collected and he asked two questions for verification.

1) What is your name and Date of Birth.
- Photo and finger prints were taken.
- They have pasted a sticker on the back of passport and also our DS-160 forms were stamped.

For my daughter, we have taken a photo but they rejected that photo because one of her ear was not clearly visible in that photo due to hair. Kid was not asked to stand for separate photo.They said take a new photo from outside and present it at the time of visa interview. Not a big issue.

Documents required at Bio-metrics location:

1) Passport
2) DS-160 Confirmation Page
3) Appointment letter
4) One photo for minor

Visa Interview Location (Interview at 9.30 AM)

We reached the location at 9.00 AM. Security verified the passports, DS-160 and Appointment letter and sent us inside. (Carry the same DS-160 forms that were stamped at the Bio-metrics center, Do not carry fresh DS-160 confirmation pages)
We were asked to remove any mobile phones, electronic watches/devices, coins etc. If going with a kid you can carry his/her food. And for carrying documents, they were allowing if the documents are kept inside a polythene cover or a cloth bag. It was easy to handle documents in those instead of carrying the files in hand.
In Building 1 they just did a security check and told us to move to the man at the corner instead of waiting in the queue due to kid. the man at the corner asked which visa type and when said H1 then they handed over a "Know your Rights" Pamphlet and asked us to move to Building 2.

In building 2 also, the security sent us through because we have kid. First time im getting lots of consideration due to my daughter ;-)

-Counters 16,17,18,19 they do re-verification of the bio-metrics. Lot of queue was there at the counters.

They asked us to verify only the left hand finger prints and asked us to move to other counters for the interview.

At counter 20, We saw a bald guy with lots of tattoos has been interviewing a family with aged parents.i was surprised to hear that he was speaking hindi with them, every one in the hall can hear his loud voice. I already heard about this guy from my friend because he was rejected his H1. I was little tensed to see him.

We were asked to stand in front of the line saying we will be given priority for the interview sine we have kid. Within 5 mins we were asked to move to Counter No:28 for the interview.Thank god, we escaped from that bold guy. :-)

VO: He smiled and said Good Morning.
Me: Good Morning.
VO: Pls Handover the passports.
Me: Passed the PP's.
VO: Is this your first time?
Me: Yes.
VO: Who is your petitioner?
Me: YYYY Company.
VO: Where is your location?
Me: YYYY
VO: Who is your client?
Me: Im a direct employee.Will Work for the YYYY company.
VO: How many employees in your US company?
Me: YYYY
VO: Is every one works in same location?
Me: Yes
VO: Highest qualification?
Me: Bachelor in Technology
To Wife:
VO: How are you?
Wife: fine thank you.
VO: How long you have been married?
Wife: YYYY years
VO: Highest qualification?
Me: ZZZ
To My daughter:
VO: Pointing my wife, Who is she?
Me: She just smiled.He also smiled and said Your Visa has been approved.
VO: Did you receive the Know your pamphlet?
Me: Yes
VO: Prepare for the journey.
Me: Thank you.

VO officer was a cool guy with nice smile.

Thank you immihelp and all others who have posted your experiences which have helped us a lot in preparing for the interview and the process.So thats why im also adding this.

 

My case : H1b extension. This is my second H1b stamping in 3.5 years. Changed 2 companies in between. I have a valid I-140 from my previous employer. I am a FTE of a reputed MNC.

I attended interview on 14th and biometric on 13th with my wife and son ( who is a US citizen) at Kolkata consulate. Scheduled interview based on our old passports. So need to fill DS160 twice for each one of us.

Biometric was normal nothing much to share.

Consulate interview:
My slot was at 10:00 am but was allowed inside by 9:30 am in spite of a queue before us, I think if you have a kid they will not make you stand for long.
They will allow your us born child provided you have his or her US passport with you. You can carry milk, diapers and water for your kid. You ( generally mother of the kid) need to test milk n water before security.
The environment was normal, no Trump effect. I saw consulate officers are trying to give visas to the genuine candidates. I noticed one thing if you have valid documentation don't worry much about your communication skills it's definitely good to have. The officers are very cool.

VO: asked for passport n 1797
Me: slided all our ( me and my wife) passports and i797 through the window. We have 2 passports for each one of us. She returned i797 and kept the passports.
VO: who is your original petitioner
Me : answered
VO: who is your current petitioner
Me: answered
VO: what's your designation there
Me: answered
VO: since how long you are with this company.
Me: answered
VO: what's your highest qualification
Me: answered
VO: how many years of total experience you have
Me: answered
To my wife
What's your highest qualification?
Do you have US passport for your son?
When was he born?
To us
I am approving both of your visas.
Status:
15th : administrative processing
16th: ready for pick up
Note: since I scheduled interview based on my old passports I got email that my old passport is ready for pick up but when I collected received both.

POE experience @ Washington DC on 26th March

Do you work here?
How do you pronounce your petitioner name?
Since how long you are with this company?
Designation, roles n responsibilities
Purpose of your trip to India
Where is your wife? ( since I was traveling alone)
How many countries you visited during this trip?
General custom related queries

Hope it helps

Please inform your University as soon as your H1B is approved so that they will update the SEVIS.

I attended my interview at hyderabad consulate on Feb 21st , the interviewer said that the visa is approved , but needs some processing at their end " we need to do some clearing on your student record". This is because there is issue with the SEVIS ID and the homeland security still has mine as a student.

The process might take from 2 weeks to 4 weeks.Fortunately ,I received my passport within 2 weeks.

Hope this helps.

Firstly let me say that, I have been following this website and specifically H1/H4 experience page since my wife had to visit India. And it really helped me a lot by reading everyone's experience.

Ok, so now about our story. I am currently on 7th year of H1b so just 20 days ago I got my H1b extension approved till 2020. And my wife is on H4 (with EAD). She had her H4 approval till June 2017. And travel visa on her passport is already expired. She traveled to India in Feb and going to stay there till Apr. Since her travel visa is already expired she had to appear at consulate to get her visa stamped and this is her experience (I am just trying to write as much as I can understand from her).

I got my extension approved while she was in India and just 2 weeks before her appointment. So I had to file up new DS 160 with new H1b. Her dates were 19th for finger prints and 20th for consulate.

On 19th at time of her bio metrics, she gave them new DS 160 and they added it to her application.
On 20th, her time was at 9 AM so she went to consulate about 30-45 min earlier than her schedule. She went to window assigned to her. At that window, VO asked her to provide my I-797 (for new H1b, current H1b and GC), my passport copies and her passport. And VO told her that she is approving visa till June 2017 (based on my current H1b). So apparently new H1b approval didn’t update in their system. But my wife requested if she can get her H4 based on my new approval.
So VO asked her to wait at window and VO went to talk with someone. About 20 min later she came back and asked her to go to another window. At that window another VO was present and he too asked same questions and requested same document. And that VO too told my wife that she can issue her visa till my current H1 validity (again, it was June 2017 for them). But then again, my wife repeated same request and she was told to wait more.
And again after 20-30 min she was called on another window with another VO.. and same process got repeated. Even then she was sent to 4th window.
Finally, at 4th window another VO rechecked all documents and told her that he too is issuing visa till June 2017. And he took copy of my current I797 (valid till June 2017). But she requested him too that if possible she would like to get visa approval based on newer H1b. So after more checking and typing in system, he returned her my current I797 and copied my new I797 and told her that he is approving her visa based on this new I797. And told her that she should get her passport back in 2-3 business days.
And on all 4 windows they almost repeated same question. Questions were like following,
Reasons for travel?
If there is any kids? If they are US citizen or not?
Why I am not traveling with her?
What I do in USA?
Do you work there or not? Are you planning to work once you go back?

For some reasons, we even forgot to include visa page of my passport, which they did ask for. But they didn’t take much issue about it. So all in all, it took about 3 hours and 4 different VOs to finally get visa based on my new I797.

And just after 4 days of her interview, she got her passport back with H4 stamp till 2020. So I think, if your case is strong enough, you should not be worried about getting rejection. Just be confident and answer questions.

I have not followed same QC format, because I didn't had first hand experience. I hope this will help someone who is in kind of same boat as us.

BioMetrics: As usual . It took 15025 mins for completion of bio metrics. Just Cross check your name in passport and DS-160 with every letter matching it.

Visa Interview: As mentioned in other posts, Do not go into consulate early. 15 mins prior to the appointment is more than enough.
It took total of 20 mins to enter the Consulate and to come out of consulate in Hyderabad.
Do not take any mobiles, pend drives or any electronic items.
Parking is available near bio metrics which is paid parking and enough of space is available for parking.
After security check entered the Q for Bio Metric verification. As my number of ahead of the people in Q i was called first.
After that joined Line of Visa interview.
There was a guy for B1 in front of me and he had lot of questions from VO like why are you the only candidate selected for the role.
What will US get advantage with this etc.
Now came my turn.
VO: Good morning
Me: Good morning Mam. Passport was already given
VO: Who is your Petitioner
ME: YYYY COmpany
VO: Who is your client
ME: YYYY chocolate manufacturer in US
VO: Wow . you will get lot of free chocloates then
ME: Yes mam
VO: What is your salary
ME: YYYY XX $
VO: Have you read the rights pamphlet you received
ME: Yes
VO: She was confused and said ok read it thouroughly before leaving to US. Your Visa is approvedl
ME: Thanks a lot mam.

Done.

Bio-metrics: 22nd March 2017 3.15 PM
Visa Interview: 23rd March 2017 9.00 AM
Interview for H1(My wife) and H4(Me and my son)

Bio-Metrics:
Reached the bio-metrics location by 2.45 PM.
Security verified all our passports, DS-160 and Appointment letter and sent us in.
We were asked to wait for 5 mins in the 1st floor of the building according to the timings.
Multiple queues are organized in the building as per the timings (3 PM, 3.15 PM, 3.30 PM and 3.45 PM)

We were sent inside by 3 PM. Passports, DS-160 and Appointment letters are verified again.
Passport and DS-160 are tied together independently for all our 3 passports and sent inside.

One more round of check was done again by another officer and was given a token number. We were asked to wait in a queue and asked to look for the display and then move to respective counters.

At the counter, passport and DS-160 are collected and he asked two questions for verification.
1) What is your name and Date of Birth.
- Photo and finger prints were taken.
- They have pasted a sticker on the back of passport and also our DS-160 forms were stamped.

For my son, we have taken a photo and they just took a re-photo of that photo that we have taken. Kid was not asked to stand for separate photo.

Documents required at Bio-metrics location:
1) Passport
2) DS-160 Confirmation Page
3) Appointment letter

Do not carry any other documents to the Bio-metrics location.

Visa Interview Location (Interview at 9 AM)
-We reached the location at 8.20 AM. Security verified the passports, DS-160 and Appointment letter and sent us inside. (Carry the same DS-160 forms that were stamped at the Bio-metrics centre, Do not carry fresh DS-160 confirmation pages)

-We were asked to remove any mobile phones, electronic watches/devices, coins etc. If going with a kid you can carry his/her food. And for carrying documents, they were allowing if the documents are kept inside a polythene cover or a cloth bag. It was easy to handle documents in those instead of carrying the files in hand.

-In Building 1 they just did a security check and for H1 they handed over a "Know your Rights" Pamphlet and asked us to move to Building 2.
-Since we have a kid, they asked us to enter building directly without standing in the queue.
-Counters 16,17,18,19 they do re-verification of the bio-metrics. Lot of queue was there at the counters.
-Again we were given priority and directly went to the counter. They asked us to verify only the left hand finger prints and asked us to move to other counters for the interview.

-We were asked to sit separately saying we will be given priority for the interview. Within 5 mins we were asked to move to Counter No:31 for the interview.

VO: Good Morning. How are you doing today?
Wife: Good Morning, Doing good, how about you.

VO: I am doing good. Thanks for asking.
VO: Please pass on the passports.
Wife: Handed over the passports.

VO:Who is your petitioner?
Wife:ZZZ company

VO:Do you have any end client?
Wife:Yes

VO: Who is the client?
Wife: YYY company

VO: What do you do for them?
Wife: Answered roles and responsibilities as per the petition

VO: You said who is your employer?
Wife: Repeated YYYY company instead of the client name

Questions to me now for the dependent.
VO: How long have you been married
Me: X years Y months

VO: How old is your son/daugher?
Me X years Y months

VO: Where did your wife complete her Masters?
(This was a tricky question. My wife did her Bachelors and not Masters)
Me: Not Masters, she did her Bachelors in YYYY University.

VO: Did you receive the Know your pamphlet?
Me and Wife: Yes

VO: Please go through it before you leave this building.
Me and Wife: Sure sir.

And then the golden words. Your Visa is Approved. Have a safe journey to US.

We thanked him and arranged our documents back into the files.
We were not asked to produce not even a single document. VO just took the passports.

Thank you immihelp and all others who have posted your experiences which have helped us a lot in preparing for the interview and the process.

Suggestion: Do not carry any other documents other than Passport, DS-160 and Appointment letter to Bio-metrics.
We were also told not to bring kids if they are aged below 14 years.
Do not carry any electronic devices, purse, watch etc to the interview location. Just carry some money.
Before the leaving the visa interview building, arrange all the documents carefully back into the file and cross-verify.
I have seen people misplaced their documents inside the building and were not allowed back into the building.

First of all I thank every one for sharing their Visa interview experience , this is really helping people who are about to face visa interview.
I am a constant reader in this forum from past 3 months and it has really helped me lot.
I really appreciate people suggesting others to be confident in front of counselor , that really makes difference.
Please keep in mind that counselor is there only to screen people at the last stage to enter into US , hence donot panic or confuse once you reach interview counter.Be confident enough while providing V.O requested documents with out confusion or in hurry.

Be confident and prepare on the below topics
Current responsibilities(atleast 15 points or till he asks for next question)
US employer area of business.
US employer project details.(common question for all new Visa applicants)
US employer's client details(if any)

http://www.immihelp.com/visas/h1b/h1-visa-interview-sample-questions-answers.html-answers/

I would like to share my visa interview experience.

20MAR2017 - Completed my biometrics with in 10-15 mins .
Please donot carry any thing except appointment letter & DS 160.(not even mobiles & handbags).
For H1b self applicants photos are not required.(for dependent kids less than 14 years it might be required , please get it clarified)

21MAR2017: Scheduled interview : 10.00 AM , Entered U.S.Consulate and because of many applicants it took me 1.5 hrs to reach interview counter.

Discussions with Visa officer.

V.O and me exchanged our greetings.(me standing straight with out leaning to the counter)

V.O: Can I have your Passport and I797.
Me: Handed required documents (keep these 2 documents handy instead of digging into your file after reaching the counter)

V.O: Looked at my I797 and asked - So you are working for YYYY company (first question to confuse people applying for the first time)
Me: No sir , YYYY is my new US employer and I am currently working in AAA company

V.O: Well , how many years of experience you have.
me: X number of years.

V.O: Are you married.
Me: Not yet.

V.O : started talking to one of his college for almost 7 to 8 mins (my situation during this time was very bad and I couldn't handle that pressure)

V.O: Which city / state is your US employer located.
ME: Answered MXX city and PXX state.

V.O: Your Salary
ME: XX K US dollers (please make sure your answer is more than 65K us dollers though your petitioner has documented it lesser to 65K probably by mistake or for any other reason in LAC , if your answer is lesser to 65K US \$ that you be your disqualifying answer)

V.O : What are your roles in the current organization.
Me: Explained him about 13 to 15 points (please make sure that your current responsibilities matches to your US employers roles and responsibilities)

V.O: In what business your US employer is into
ME: Explained him about the activities that my US employer has mentioned in their url

V.O: Can you please provide me project details for your US employer.
ME: Answered.

V.O: worked on his system for almost 5 mins , I guess he has checks the details in his system that I have explained him.
Me: As usual , nervous and tensed.

V.O: Sir,we are done with your Visa interview however need some documents from your petitioner and asked me to mail the document that was ticked in the white slip and no need to come back again.
Me: Thanks and Have a nice day .. bye

May be V.O required some more information on the project hence queried it to the petitioner in my section 221(G) .

Okay guys, first of all, it's really difficult to create a user id on this website, finally figured it out after multiple attempts, maybe the mods should make it easier and add an option to Login from Facebook if one can register with Facebook !

Anyway, my advice to add h1b aspirants :
Confidence is key. You can have a hundred documents or None, confidence while answering the questions will enable you to get a visa.
My case :

In house project ( I was told these are scrutinised more, don't believe it, it's wrong information)
A new employer in the US and a small one, and I'm currently employed with a big MNC
I have Masters in India and 8 years of work ex
My COB is wrongly entered in my i797 and my i129 !!! But I didn't freak out !
Went with my wife and 3 year old son for whom I had appllied for H4
I had B1/B2 and so did my wife and son but once again : Confidence, as all of the above can differ but what matters is how good you hold to your story.

So this is how it went:
VO: hello, waves to my son who's very irritated today and didn't wave back lol
We : good morning, gave her the passports

VO: asked for the i797

VO: ok, so how long have you been working with company ABC (which is the company I left last year in august and currently employed with company XYZ which is not the company who filed my H1B)
Me : almost 2 years

VO:ok so when did your current company hire you (now she meant the h1b petetioning company)
Me : so I don't work them for right now, I will join them if I get the h1b

VO: I'm confused it's not company ABC
Me: I said no, I left them in august and I'm not with XYZ and this offer is by company DEF

VO: kept looking in her system, asked me why so many changes ?
Me : the nature of my profession requires me to work with different companies to help develop my diverse experience, and that I didn't know my h1b would get approved therefore I changed company ABC

VO: still seem confused and asked me for my salary
Me: I replied it's **** ** USD

VO: no what was your salary in company ABC
Me : replied .....

VO: what is your salary now in company XYZ
Me: replied ....

VO: so no raise ? (There was a raise of 50%)
Me ; I said there is, told her the difference

VO: then why the small company you want to work with now?
Me : the global experience will be unparraled and I will get to earn **** * dollars (repeated the figure) and the salaries in the Us are more (I actually said this lol), but maintained confidence

At this point I realised how I was leaning towards the counter and stood back and remembered to breathe and be coffee to and stand tall

VO: who is your client or will you be working for the same company ( the dreaded in house project which everyone said will be scrutinised more or have chances of rejection : I say shut those people up lol)
Me: it's a product they will be making and I will be working for them only

VO: explain your role ?
Me: mentioned my roles name alone

VO: signals me to tell more ?
Me: I continue explaining activities in my role (remember make up fancy stuff, they do not know **** what you will or can do, but yeah stick to speaking confidently)

VO: I still don't understand why would u leave ur current org which a big company and join such a small one
Me : well some of the best years of my experience I've spent in small companies and in big companies I'm just going to be having limited responsiblities and will be a rat in the rat race while in a small one I would get to learn so much more

VO: Ok, I'm approving your visa, you can collect it within 3 days.

No single question asked to my wife. No other document asked for.

Guys and girls : be confident, stand tall, Remember your work ex, old salary figures, why you are going, etc. Etc. And do not worry as each case is unique and the VO is simply looking for reasons to shatter your confidence or make you blurt out any wrong intentions.

Of course if you are going through a big company, it should be a cakewalk, but even in a case like mine, wrong information in i797 and i129, in house project, no work related travel in past, a lot of job changes, etc, confidence sailed me and my family through.

Stand tall, laugh and smile while in the queue, do not overthink it.
You are there to get the visa and you know it.