H1B, H4 Visa

Nov 14: OFC/VAC/Finger Prints.

Required documents:

Passport
Appointment Confirmation letter
DS 160

Finger prints and photograph taken. Easy process. No questions asked.
[HARD COPIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS NOT REQUIRED]

Nov 15: Visa Interview [Appointment at 2:00 PM].

Entered the building at 1:20 PM

Appointment verification outside the building
Gate keeper verification of passport
Document scan and body checkup
Received rights document. Asked to hold Passport, DS-160, Rights document in hand. Waited for 15 minutes
Finger prints verification
Waited for 10 minutes
In a queue for 10 minutes

Gave a token number. There were already 2 persons in queue. It took 1 minute each for those 2 persons interview. Both approved. Its my turn now.

Me: Good afternoon mam. How are you doing
VO: Good afternoon. Doing good. How about you
Me: Doing good. Thanks for asking

VO: Who is your petitioner
Me: My petitioner is xxx

VO: How long you have been working for this petitioner
Me: This is a new opportunity mam

VO: How did you get this job
Me: I was looking for a job, posted my profile in jobsites and applied for positions

VO: Will you work at the client location
Me: Yes mam, I will work at the client location xxx. Do you want to see the client letter

VO: No that's ok. What is your salary
Me: About xxx dollars per annum

VO: What is your designation
Me: xxx

VO: Where will you be located
Me: I will be located at xxx city, xxx state

VO: What is your highest qualification
Me: Batchelor's in Electronics and Communication Engineering

VO: Before you travel to the US go through the rights document. Your visa is approved :)
Me: Thank you mam. Have a great day :)

Exit time: 2:15 PM.

VO looked at me 2-3 times. Appear with a smile. CONFIDENCE IS THE KEY.

Received passport on Nov 17 [2 business days]

Prepare well and be confident. Carry all required documents. All the best friends :)

1. Due to recent elections and outcomes in Us , whats its impact on current VISA stamping s at consulate?

2. How is it going to effect the already H1B holders in US

Please share your thoughts.

OFC on 14-Nov-2016: Was pretty simple. They just take your photo and fingerprints. My appointment was @1pm, I went thr by 12.45 and came out by 1.15. Just go 15 min early to your appointment time. Keep ds160 confirmation, passports and Appointment letter handy. No other document is needed here. You can carry your mobile.

PAI on 15-Nov-2016: My appointment was scheduled at 9.30am, I reached the venue by 9. I skipped the queue multiple times. Thanks to my 4yr old Son. I entered the queue at 9.05am and you will be allowed inside the building after security check. There was another small queue inside the main Consulate builing where they verify the passports. After that they verify your fingerprints. At 9.20, I was sitting and waiting for my interview with VO(you will stand in queue if you don't have a kid along with you) . Since the appointment was at 9.30, they asked me wait for sometime. Around 9.25 I was guided to a counter . gave all passports to VO and he asked only 4 questions,
VO: Who is your employer?
VO: Who is your Client?
VO: What do you do for your client?

VO to my wife: What is your highest qualification?

He then type something in his computer and said the golden words and that I can collect my passport in 4 days. He gave a white pamplet. At 9.35, I was outside the Consulate.

Key points:
You may not understand what Vo is asking if you don't pay attention.

Thank you all for your sharing your experiences.

Below is my spouse H4 experience at Hyderabad

OFC: Attended OFC without children, my daughter photo was not as per the standards, asked us submit next day to Visa officer.

Second day:

After Security check, later one lady verified the documents and collected the photo.

Below are the questions from visa officer.

Q: (Looking at her system) So...You want to join your husband mam?

A:Yes

Q:Can you give me your husbands I-797?

A:Sure(Handed over I-797 to her)

Q: Whom is your husband working for?

A: YYYY (client)

Q: Where is he?

A: ZZZ,ZZZ

Q: Is this company his direct petitioner?

A: No

Q:Then, who is the petitioner?

A: YYYY

She showed me the 'KNOW YOUR RIGHTS' booklet and said "Please go through this booklet ...this contains very important information for your safety and rights while you are at the USA...You are issued the Visa.. Congratulations and have a happy and safe stay at US"

Hi guys,

This case of mine might sound similar to you ,but failed to find help I am posting my case here.

I got my h1 approved and effective from October.But I am pregnant due to delivery in a month ,hence could not find project as per my preferences and now have to go for cos otherwise I shall go out of status.My questions now are

1.I don have pay stubs till date,I got my petition October end.will this effect my h4cos in future?
2.My husband's employer is taking lot of time to file the cos which means it will be 60 days since I am on h1,what are the immediate steps to avoid legal problems?

Your reply will be of great help as I am running out of time and no proper help to move forward on this case.

Thanks in advance

Hi,

My PAI interview is scheduled on 21st and 22nd of nov. But in DS 160 form I gave tentative date as 21st Nov. will it cause any issue?

Please advice. Thanks in advance.

Hi Guys,

Thanks all for sharing your feedback.
I have few questions :
1) I have mentioned YYYY TECH SOLNS & YYYY TECH SOLUTIONS in my DS160 in 2 different places, which i feel is a contradiction.Do you feel there is any issues with it ?
2) I have with petitioner for 4 years now & it is a MNC Company & i am going to a client location.However, i do not have any client Invitation letter. Please advise if this is a mandate document ?
3) I have completed my education 10 years ago, the name of the city i filled in DS160 is the new name of the city.However, my original documents shows the old city name.Can it cause any issues ?
4) Can i make the changes on my DS160 Form now ?

What is the source of truth in interview ( I-129 form or DS160 form)

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

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.