H1B, H4 Visa

Hi All , I have appeared for H1B visa stamping at Hyderabad and wanted to share my experience. I had bio metrics on 14th Nov and interview on 15th Nov at 2 Pm. I went inside consulate at 1:30 PM and came out at 2:30 PM. I went along with my wife and 3 years old kid.

VO: Hi How are you
Me: Good, How are you doing today

VO: Had you appeared for L1 blanket before
Me : Yes i said ( Since i had L1 blanket rejection twice)

VO: What is your highest qualification
Me: YYYY is my qualification

VO: What is your salary
Me: YYYY USD per annum

Questions to my wife:

VO: Where do you live in US
Ans: City and state Name

VO: How long you have been you married
Ans: YYYY years

VO: How many kids you have
Ans: YYYY X number of kids

Then she said visa is issued and asked us to go through Know your right document.

Everyone says you need to be confident and we all know how difficult it is when our life is in consular hands. Do better and always feel that consular is available to give visas.

Most of H1B's are going through visa stamping. it is a cake walk for you all. ALL THE BEST

Hi all,
I am going to appear for H1b visa interview.

I have a 3 years of gap between my BE (2008) and Job start date(2011).
I was struggling for job initial days after engineering pass out.Then with few courses i learned software development and got a first job in 2011.
What answer should i give to VO if he asks about gap of 3 years.

One more thing is , I did engineering in Electronics and i am applying H1b for software.
If he ask reason for moving from electronics to computer science what should be my answer

Interview appointment was scheduled for 9:30 AM. Visa class - H1B extension beyond 6 years with I-140 approval. Completed biometrics on Nov14th. Once fingerprinting is done, they apply a small sticker with barcode on your latest passport.

Arrived at the consulate at 8 am - Nov 15th. Queue was almost empty and walked straight up. First gentleman verified barcode sticker on the passport. Next up walked to the security check and then entered consulate. Stood in two different lines and entered the visa lobby around 8:30 am.

First step on entering the lobby wass to check-in with the second gentleman. They assist you with the counter and where you need to proceed. Finger printing was counter 17 and walked around a bit and stood in line. H1/L1 candidates were being directed to counters 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 31. They were sending candiadates with language restrictions to other counters. I was asked to stand in counter 23.

VO: Good morning.
Me: Good morning. How are you doing ?
VO: Doing good, please slide your passport.
Me: Here you go .. (handed over the passport to him)
VO: Who is your petitioner ?
Me: Qualcomm Inc.
VO: So you are gonna be working in San Diego ?
Me: Yes
VO: What do you do ?
Me: I am embedded sw engineer and my main responsibility is to develop protocol software for LTE & WCDMA.
VO: This product you worked on, has it been sold to someone ?
Me: Yes, this chip can be found in Apple iPhone 7 models and Samsung S7 models.
VO: So the S7 note problem is your fault ? (Was smiling at this point)
Me: Fortunately it wasn't our fault. From newspaper reports it seems like battery produced in their factory had some quality control issues.
VO: Ok .. sounds good, btw what is your salary ?
Me: ZZZ,ZZZ. I have pay slips for your reference (just mentioned it didn't take it out).
VO: Not needed. Where did you go to school ?
Me: MS from Georgia Tech and Bachelors from Anna university.
VO: What is your duration of visit ?
Me: From X to Y, roughly 2.5 years.
VO: I meant your duration of India vacation ?
Me: Oh, i am here for 2 weeks and will be leaving on Nov 24th.
VO: Why Nov 24th ?
Me: 25th is black friday and i want to buy a new laptop (both of us were smiling at this point).
VO: Your visa has been approved. It warm and sunny outside, enjoy rest of your day.
Me: Thank you.

All through the interview, he wasn't looking at my face. He just kept on typing something on the screen. Only when he said my visa is approved, he looked at my face and smiled. Walked outside and it was drizzling at 9:15 AM. Basically interview was done and dusted even before my appointment specified time.

Important things to note ...

1. Be confident. Don't stutter or stammer when responding to questions.
2. Speak in the small mic attached to the left hand side of the glass window. Otherwise for every question they keep pointing you to go there.
3. Keep your answers to the point and precise. If your response is more than 10 seconds for one question they seem to get visibly irritated.
4. They usually don't ask documents but be prepared to show them in chronological order.

I will post the experience of some other people who interviewed on the same counter and what mistakes they made.

Hi, I have recently got the H1b visa(after i-140 approval) extension and is valid till future date. I have to go for stamping in Delhi for me & family with my next visit. I am planning to go to India in jan/feb 2017.

Question-
1] My current project is going to end in Dec 2016. How can stamping is going to affect in case i will be on bench.
2] I do have client letter from current project and is valid till jun 2017, not sure if i can use the same while going for stamping.
3] Should i wait for next project and then go for this trip?

Thanks in advance!!

Hello Friends,

I got my H1b stamping done successfully in Hyderabad consulate. Below are the questions asked by VO:

Me: Good Morning Maam, how are you doing today?

VO: Fine, thank you and how about you?

Me: Great, thank you

VO: Who is your petitioner?

Me: Told my Employer name YYYY

VO: Who is your client?

Me: Told my client name xxxx

VO: Whats your salary?

ME: Told my salary xxxx USD pa

VO: Where do you live?

ME: Told the city and state

VO: What is your highest degree?

ME: Told completed my Masters in YYYY X

VO: Your visa is issued

ME: Thank you maam, have a great day

Note: Be prepared and confident, visa is your's.

Good luck everyone

Hi

sharing my h1b experience at Chennai, Appeared with wife and Child. Hope it will be helpful.

Am working in a well known company where more than 2.5L people is employed.

OFC - Appointment time 11:45 am 9-Nov-15

Parked car in the nearby area, no parking will be facility provided.
Took an auto and reached by 11:15, they won't allow you before your time slot,

Be present only before 15 min prior to your appointment time. i saw some people were waiting more than an hour in streets. They will allow mobile phones, we have to switch off before entering.

they allowed to stand in queue @ 11 30,

After entering the premises, they cross checked
- DS160 Confirmation page,
- appointment confirmation page
- passport

took photo and finger print - all 10 finger. for child we gave passport size photo, he took photo of that and returned to us.

we returned by 12:10 pm

--------------

PA- Appointment time 11:30 am 10-Nov-15

You could not park car nearby as the area is always crowded. Parked car in the nearby area before 3 km, Took an auto and reached by 11:10 am. No electronic items were allowed.

There were around 100 people standing in queue, as we had 1 year baby, we bye-passed the queue.

They crossed checked finger print in the 1st counter and asked to bye-pass queue again and reached VO.

Good morning, your passport please

Who is your petitioner?

Where you will be work at client or in-house project?

Who is your client?

where is your work location?

what’s your highest qualification?

what’s your role?

YOUR VISA IS APPROVED and gave one while pamphlet.

no questions for Wife. no other docs were asked.

Rehearsal and Confidence is the key.

Nov 10, 2016:

Question asked:

1. what's your company do.
2. Highest education
3. how long you are married.

After the Visa interview, Visa officer took my passport and told me that my visa is approved and I will get the passport in 2-3 days.

I just checked my status online and it says: Administrative Processing

Link: https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTrack...QI+RA==?
Application Id: AA006xxxxxx
Location: India, Mumbai.

ANY IDEA WHATS GOING ON? AGAIN MY VISA WAS APPROVED AND I NEVER RECEIVED ANY 221G? OR ANY OTHER DOCUMENT.

Hi All,

Kindly share your valuable H1B visa stamping experiences which happened in the month of november.

As this election season, worried and need your valuable information so that it will help others..

Please post your experiences..please..please.

Hello,

I have been working in the US on OPT after my graduate studies. My H1B was approved from October 1st and I have since traveled to India for stamping. I had filled the DS -160 and booked a slot for H1B interview. After this I renewed my passport since my old passport will be expiring in March 2017.

I spoke to the VFS customer care and they told me that in this case all I need to do is to retrieve my DS160 using the application number and make changes to the passport number and print the confirmation, I have done that but I notice that my application ID of the DS160(and in the confirmation page) has changed.

Please advice if this is ok and if I do not need to do anything else. is it enough that I carry both the DS160s and both my passports to the interview and explain the situation to the interviewer, or if I need to do anything additional.

Thank you for helping out!

Hi,

My Case :
I travel the USA in March 2015 on H4 visa (spouse) and then applied for H1B from XYZ employer in April 2015 and got selected in the lottery.

My H1B petition valid till Sep 2018.
I work here on C2C contract basis from Oct 2015 to June 2016 (change 3 projects & jobs in this duration) and after that project got over.

I have Paystubs until June 2016.

Now again I'm searching jobs on C2C Contract basis, but now I need to travel back to India in Jan 2017 and while coming back to USA I had to go through H1B visa stamping process.

I asked my XYZ employer that I need latest paystubs and other required documents for H1B stamping. Employer gives me two choices:-

First Option : I need to pay him some amount for the paystubs because payroll is running and I'm on bench :(
Second Option : Go for stamping on H4 visa status (i.e Change of Status)

My Query:
1. If I go for 2nd Option then I need to file CoS here before traveling to India or after reaching India?
2. When I appear for visa stamping interview through H4 in India , What will be the questions in this case? ; why I change my status from H1 to H4 ? ; My h1b paystubs before CoS? ;or any H1b related docs ?
3. Chances of approval or rejection ?
4. Processing time of CoS from H1 to H4

Please advise. Thanks in advance.