H1B, H4 Visa

I thank Immihelp forum for providing great platform to prepare for H1B visa interview
From the last one month I was going thru all the experiences starting from the first page to the 100th page. However I concentrated on the questions related to new employment + aug/sep/oct time frame of the past years.

I have attended in Hyderabad.
My background is I have more than 11years of IT experience + a B1/B2 visa valid for 10years and with a pending matrimonial criminal case(498A/506).
I have answered YES for arrest related question in DS-160, and I was nervous due to this fact however I have taken all the relevant documentation.

Day 1 OFC appointment ­ 23/09
A simple straight forward procedure and hardly takes 15min to complete it.
Just asked for passport, DS­160 and appointment confirmation. Also carry a copy of 1797, might be helpful. They took finger prints and put a bar code on the passport.

Day 2 Consular interview - 25/09
Appointment time was 9AM . I wore formal dress with a tie and formal shoes. I reached the embassy at 8.30AM.
they started the queue for 9AM appointment and I reached the end of line after passport check. After security they allowed candidates in batches. We were asked to sit at a vacant area for about 30min before they asked us to stand in the line for finger printing and final queue. I observed there were good number of people for H1B stamping. I felt more anxious after seeing those many H1B applicants. After finger printing they allowed people in batches to the final queue. The candidates were given the counter numbers to go and stand in their respective lines.

I was asked to go for counter X, the VO was a lady officer and there were three more candidates waiting in the queue. I observed that the VO was asking many questions and taking about 15min per candidate. I guess the candidates in front of me were 1 (H1B + H4) and others B1/B2. I couldnt hear the questions and I myself didnt want to listen to avoid confusion. Anyways, the last candidate was a lady, she went for business visa, she was explaining way too much for each question and if I were the VO I would have approved her visa but somehow VO rejected the visa and asked her to consult some other counter.

Then comes my turn.

Questions
Q:Good Morning Sir.
A:Hi, Good morning Ma'm.

Q:Please pass on your passport.
A:I gave my passport.

Q:whose your employer?
A: YYYY

Q:How long you been working with this employer, sir?
A:New emplyment Ma'm

Q:Oh, ok. Which is the position offered to you?
A:Answered appropriately.

Q:Whats your highest qualification?
A:Bachelors of technology in Computer Science and Information technology.

Q:where do you work and location
A:I replied that I work at the client place however I am going to the employer's location, initially for new employee orientation and to obtain the SSN.

Q:Oh ok, you have a client? whose your client?
A:I answered the client name.

Q:(She couldnt get it, she was trying to pronounce it)
A:I tried to spell the name in my own dumb way ;)

Q:what kind of business is your client into?
A:I explained as per the petitioner documents about client's business however she was not completely satisfied with my answer, so I gave an example of a famous similar client of the same business.

Q:How much is the salary sir?
A:I answered it as per the petition.

Q:where do you currently work sir?
A:I replied my current employer name.

Q:How many years of experience you have?
A:I said 11years and I corrected myself saying 11years 4months.

Q:Sir, did you read the US non-immi rights pamphlet?
A:I was confused and after a pause I said yes I read it.

Q:Your Visa is approved sir(she was looking at the computer, said the wonderful words and kept saying something)
A:I didnt hear a word, even I didnt hear the visa approved statement also, I understood from her hand movement that visa interview is done, she kept the passport and I can make way for the next candidate :-)

PS: Interestingly the VO didnt ask a single document, not even the I797 approval and she asked very straight forward questions or may be I prepared for any eventuality ;)

Tips
Be confident and practice your answers. There are two questions that H1B applicants should be absolutely confident.
1. Roles and Responsibilities
2. Project description

I couldnt smile as I was very anxious but I practiced my answers and If my analysis is correct then having 11+ years of exp and B1/B2 visa proved valuable to negate the negative effects of a pending 498A case.

I collected my visa with stamping today. 30/09.
All the very best guys.

Guys I got the H1B visa stamping on 23rd September (I shared my experience as well on this portal).
Once I fly yo US is it possible for my wife and 2 yrs old daughter to get the H4 visa stamping done or as parent I need to be there during the interview of my daughter?
And is it will be easy for them to attend the interview on absence of me.

Thank you everyone for sharing your visa interview experiences here. It really helped me in preparing for my case.
Below is my experience at mumbai consulate:
OFC: Nothing special
Visa Interview:
VO: So, what does this company do?
Me: explained. To the point.
VO: Since how long you working with them?
Me: I am working since xxx years with my current company but this one is a new opportunity (stressed on new)
VO: Oh, new job! how did you get it?
Me: Explained whole process
VO: What will you do for them?
Me: Started explaining,( he was typing something, so missed first sentenc. Asked me to repeat). I repeated. (He interrupted in the mid.)
VO: Are you directly going to work for this company or any other client?
Me: Directly going to join this comp at their YYYY office
VO: (looking into the screen for 30 sec), I am approving your visa, you will get an sms/email within 2-5 day.
Me & Wife: Thank you very much.
No question was asked to my wife. No other document except I797 and PP.

Thanks and all the very best if you have an upcomming appointment,

Hi All,

I don't have any project documentation. and i decided to say that internal project of my employer.
 what kind of possible questions will encounter while interview please provide me.

Thanks,
Sagar

first of all i would like to thank immihelp forum for providing great experiences to prepare for visa interviews

A little background i did my masters from US from university YYYY and have been working full time(direct employment) with a company YYY since last year june

Day 1 OFC appointment - nehru place

appointment time 2 pm. reached there at 12 the security guy asked to come for queue at 1.45 so went and had lunch at a restaurant nearby

Just asked for passport ,DS-160 and appointment confirmation. They just take finger prints and put a bar code on the passport. entire process took 15 minutes

Day 2 interview

appointment time was 8.30 . i reached at 7. was waiting opposite the embassy where they have setup a seating area

they started the queue for 8.30 appointment at 8.I reached the end of line after passport check but during security they found a pendrive in my document set(which i forgot to take out) and i was made to go back and deposit the pendrive . again i hard to go to the end of the line.

after all this trouble finally i was in the interview hall and in front of me were all the interview counters. Most of the people with b1/b2 appointments and F-1 appointments. i just saw 4-5 people with H1- appointments in front of me and i think all of them got approved.

Anyways finally i was asked to go to one of the counters with a very nice women VO. She just asked for passport and i-797 and no other documents were asked throughout the interview

Questions

Q:where do you work and location
A:Replied

Q:Is it a direct employment ?
A:yes

Q:Did you do your masters from YYYY
A:yes (at this point i knew its all done as she seemed very happy/impressed)

Q:What do you do there
A:replied

Q:How long have you been working there
A:Replied

Q:What is your salary
A:Replied

after that she went to back to check something but before she left she told me you are all good. then she comes back and does something on her computer and says the golden words

your visa is approved and i will get a text when to pick it up

thanks again for all the help on this forum it really helped me.

Tips

reach at least 45 minutes for visa interview appointment.be confident and practice your answers. visa officers are very nice people who are just trying to verify the legitimacy of your employment so as long as you are confident about your employment credentials everything should be ok

09/20 - Day 1 – Experience at the OFC:
-------------------------------------------------------
*The OFC was on 09/20 at 2:00 PM. I reached the OFC by around 01:30 PM.
*My DS-160 Confirmation and Passports verified and asked me to correct the Name in DS 160 form, and there was a near by centers where they will correct the DS 160 form and give the new confirmation, you can check with auto persons they will take you there.
*After correction of DS 160 form, I was given a token number and finished the finger printing and photo and were out by 2:30 PM.

09/21 - Day 2 – Interview at the Consulate: Felt like going to Board exam
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Appointment was at 08:00 AM. I reached the Consulate by about 07:15 AM.

There was no queue, so my passport verified by embassy person and asked me to go inside the consulate.
They directly routed to me to finger printing section , hardly it took 2 mins for that and sent me to main queue for the interview. i waited for 15 mins as VO officer just reached the embassy by 8AM and getting ready for the interviews. No token numbers as there were less number of peoples.

I was the 4th person in the queue, and i was the 2nd person to attend the interview in that counter.

Here comes Interview Questions:
---------------------------------------------------
Me: Good morning officer
VO: Good morning Sir

VO: Passport pls.
Me : Passed the passport.

VO: Is this new Employment?
Me: Answered.

VO:Why are you changing current employer?
Me : Answered.

VO:Who is your petitioner?
Me : Answered.

VO:.which client you are working for and where its located?
Me: Answered.

VO:How many resources from YYYY company working for the client?
Me: Answered.

VO:Which project your are working for?
Me: Answered.

VO: which city in USA you are going?
Me: Answered.

VO:How you got to know about this employer?
Me: Answered.

VO: How much salary paid?
Me: Answered.

VO: Typing something in his system for more then 10 mins and told me that sorry sir as system is slow wait for a moment.
Me: My heart beat increased and waiting for his response. Finally he handovered the white pamplet and told Golden Words "Your visa approved sir" have a nice stay in USA.

Note : He didnt asked me a single document apart from passport.

OFC is pretty much straight forward and a easy task.. Hence, nothing much to explain or comment.

Main Interview - 9.00 A.M
====

Can I have your passports?

Were you already been in U.S with X Visa through D company?

To my Wife:

How long you have been married?

You travelled with your husband last time?

What is your Highest Qualification?

To me:

What is your highest qualification Sir?

Are you going to work for YYYY YYYY XX?

Where are you going?

Explain about your project?

VO looked convincing and I was positve with all my answers. That's it, he started typing something and said that his system is extremly slow.

To my surprise, he issued yellow slip and asked us to wait, someone will get back to me at the earliest.... VO took all my documents and passports....OMG!!!! but was praying, and was preparing to answer the questions in detail. 5 candidates were sitting with me and one lady was drilled down with plenty of questions and she was waiting for more than 2 hours..

After 90 minutes, I was called to the same counter.. One was standing infront of me and another one with VO , VO approved his visa, I guess B1.. The person who was standing infront of us went , but VO excused him and asked him to give him a min, and VO called us.. We went , VO returned all our docs and I was looking if he has returned my passports and within the fraction of seconds VO said "Your VISA has been approved".. I have read that Golden words many times in mutiple forums, but when I hear it for the second time in my life, I overjoyed and no words to explain that.. We said thanks and I said "You made my day & life".. Thank you very much and have a great weekend..

All the best for all the other folks and the applicants with 221G especially..

Greetings,

I attended for stamping in mumbai. VO interviewed for 35 min, asked so many questions, repeating the questions 3 to 4 times, mainly about job roles and responsibilities, about the project.
Finally he said to read the white slip pasted a side. Thought, visa has approved. He went inside, discussed with some other person, and again asked same questions about project, roles and responsibilities.
VO kept the expressions that, he satisfied with my answers.
At last, he took white slip and checked some options and said, please email these documents.

I said, Thank You and returned with disappointed.

My question is: In 221 G, it mentioned like:
"Please email PDF copies (total email LESS than 2MB) of all check marked documents."

But my all required pdf documents size exceeds 50 mb.

How can I send LESS than 2MB?

He was asking the following documents:
1. A copy of the petition with all supporting documents as filed with USCIS.
2. A copy of employment contract or letter of agreement signed by you and the petitoner.
3. A copy of the contract between the US based petitioner and the client company.
4. Detailed description of the project.
5. Copies of your complete academic credentials.
6. Copies of all pay slips and monthly bank statements for the last year.

How can all these documents will be LESS THAN 2MB SIZE?

Please suggest...!

Thanks a TON in advance...!

Hi,

My Surname is REDDI, so in my 10th Marks card, passport and other National Identity proof it is same.

But in my Degree Marks-card it is RADDI.

So do I need to do the required changes in my degree marks card as per my passport? As I'm planning to apply H1B in future.

Hi, Our attorney submitted H1B application on 4th April 2015. We got notification from our attorney on 1st May, 2015 that check has been cashed by USCIS through electronic transaction with description “CSC FIELD OFFICE PAYMENT 1807 **** **** **** **** **** ”. What does CSC FIELD OFFICE PAYMENT means? Do it means we are selected in lottery? Its been 5 months and we have never received our receipt number. Any help will be appreciated. thanks