H1B, H4 Visa

Hi Everyone,

Good to see forum like to this to help everyone.

I am planning to get married through court marriage next month in Mumbai.

Now people are confusing me regarding the marriage certificate which I will be receiving on the same day. They say
 1. For applying for any visa(I will be applying for H4) marriage certificate should have mantralay signature apart from registrar signature.
 2. Can I book a h4 visa interview date now. I will take a date few days after the court marriage date but want to book it now.

Can anyone who have gone through recently for h4 visa through court marriage throw light on this..

Guys its urgent..please help

Hi Friends,

First of all, all the best to everybody who is going for visa or stamping. I really appreciate all of those who shares their experiences to make others prepare better.

OFC - 15th Oct

1. DS 160
2. Appointment Letter
3.Passport

Verified by OFC - They take finger prints and photo. Please hear properly on the counter because their speaker is really from out of the world.

Visa Interview- Counter number 17 - Lady - Middle aged and really pricky lady

VO- Good Morning
ME- Good Morning madame
VO- Ohh you got lots of documents
ME- Yes
VO- Why don't keep aside all that documents
ME- Yes,sure I kept there left of the window
VO- Give me your passport
ME- Yes
VO- I can see your f1 have been rejected quite a lot of times
ME- Yes 3 times, I got once and didn't go and applied again for diff coll & I got rejected but it was in 2002.
VO- Yes, long time
ME- Yes
VO- Have you been to US
ME- Yes
VO- How Long
ME- YYYY
VO-Who Is client
ME- YYYY
VO- are you a software engineer
ME- Yes
VO- What you do for your client
ME- YYYY
VO- Where is your client
ME- ZZZ, I tried to explain by citing near by places
VO- I know my country
ME- Yes , of course
VO- Visa approved
ME- Thank you very much

Lady was really pricky , unnecessary pinching others as well . I saw she gave blue slip for more documents to one guy before me . I saw that guy before when I was in line outside and saw that he was carrying very little document ,flier with very few documents. He was going for internal projects.
Guys please carry all the relevant documents I know it's little heavy to carry for more than 1 hour in line but it saves you a month and lots of trouble.

She asked only passport to my, not even petition.

All the best guys. Love you all.

At last the time has come when I can share my own experience. I am really thankful to this forum and the users who have enriched many other users like me. My OFC was on 1st Oct and visa interview was on 10th Oct. I have attended the interview with my wife (I have not taken my 2 sons (6yrs and 3yrs) @ Chennai and my visa was approved. I have collected our passports yesterday from VFS, Bangalore. With this, a long journey (mixed with anxiety, tension, happiness) starting from 1st April'2014 has come to end happy end. I wish all the other users best of luck for your stamping.

I am not going to detailed of OFC experience as this is already covered by many others and is really simpler.

I am giving my visa interview experience below:

My Visa interview was at 7:30 am (first slot). We reached the consulate at 7 am (though I would recommend not to reach before 15 mins of your time slot). At 7:15 some one directed us inside the consulate. We were allowed inside after thorough checking the documents (DS-160, Appointment letter, passports). After verifying the finger prints at one counter we went inside and waited for our turn. At around @8:10 am we were called at counter no 26.

We: Good morning Officer.
VO: Very Good Morning.

VO: Please pass me your passports please.
Me: Handed over all 4 passports.
VO: (to my wife): How long you have been married.
My Wife: Answered accordingly.

VO: How many kids do you have?
We: Answered accordingly.

VO: Who is your petitioner?
Me: ZZZ.

VO: What is your designation and role?
Me: Answered accordingly.

VO: What will be your Salary in US?
Me: YY K US dollar per annum.

VO: Will you be working at Client side or Employer Location?
Me: Employer Location?

VO: Which client you will be working for?
Me: Not a single client. I will be working for their multiple clients from their Head Quarter.

VO: What is your highest qualification?
Me: Answered accordingly.

(After typing something for 2-3 mins ... the must awaited Golden word) ... Your Visa is Approved . Enjoy your stay in US and handed over the white pamphlet which describes our rights in US.

VO did not asked for any other documents (not even I-797) apart from passports. I will also repeat the same thing as others that Confidence is the first and last thing for the success (though it is very difficult to be calm and I was also very tensed before my interview but some how we need to find out the way to become cool and calm during the interview). If your case is genuine and your documents are correct you need not to worry.

Best of luck to others who will go for their Visa interview.

Thanks,
JTMS
   

Hi Friends,

I would like to attend the visa interview with my family.

Requesting you to let me know can I fill only one DS-160 or need to fill individual DS-160s for each.

Thanks friends

Hi All,

I am here to post some detail on what I went through.
For starters - I am not going to give details like 'Go 30 minutes early', 'Take a left and there is a good restaurant' etc..If you are reading this, you obviously are smart enough to understand how to reach the place and what to do..

I request few people to stop posting like 'H1B is guarantee. No questions. Just be confident' ..bla bla

Its easy for MNCs. But the process is whole lot different if you are going for a small company and especially for an internal project.

Just a few tips to follow

1) If you are going for a small company - PREPARE. Spend some quality time to prepare for all possible questions.

2) Going for a small company, the consulate would really really want to validate the case. They will want to make sure that you are not just going for a body shopping consultancy who just specialize in staffing but actually for some REAL WORK

3) The most important question would be 'Are you going for a project at client location or is it an internal project'. If it is an internal project, you ABSOLUTELY have to be ready with some extensive documentation. Its always good to be safe than sorry. Have a detailed project description document which clearly outlines the timelines, team size and your roles and responsibilities. Have the tax statements handy which will allow the interviewer to validate the credibility of your organization. Have a complete understanding of what your organization does. If its a project at client location, its absolutely mandatory to have a client letter.

4) Try to be confident and do not give long answers. At the same time,short answers are dangerous as well. Try to be concise and to the point. Again, preparation helps.

5) They do ask you 'How did you get this job'. Have a valid answer and prepare to back it up with facts. Again, do not make up anything. Be honest and everything will be smooth

6) Do not panic if you get a 221(g). It really is a torturous wait but nothing in your hands. Ensure that a proper reply is given and hope for the best. Having said that, if your documentation is perfect and you answer good, there would be no 221(g)

I recieved a 221(g) during my H1b interview. I did not have a project description dcoument. I was asked if I had one. I just said 'At this moment, no. I am sorry'. I was asked to submit the document. I thanked for the time and went ahead and informed the employer. Response was submitted and I was just waiting. There was never any update on the ceac tracker. Only after my employer filed a question with consulate, did I get a response saying 'Please submit passport for stamping' .. So if you do not see any update after 60 days, make sure you have your employer submit a request on status, stating the urgency of you reaching USA asap.

* Do not panic if you see multiple status changes on CEAC tracker. Everything that happens after taking your passport till you get in hand will be called 'administrative processing'. So just wait till you get your passport. You will get it eventually.

As I mentioned earlier. PREPARE.

Also, a request for all of you. Please do not clog the lines at the consulate. There will always be two lines for the slots that are 30 min apart. For ex: you will see 8:30am line and a 9am line..But absolutely everyone stands in these lines. You will see 11am and 2pm ppl standing in the same lines. Its total chaos. Do your bit by asking them to move. Go to the front and ask the security guy to clear it. He will do it. And for OFC, I do not see a reason to stand in lines. I would suggest, just go at the time of your appointment. If you are late, they will ask you to get in. Having said that, do not go 1 or 2 hours late. Also, dont just stand in lines for 1 hour or more...These lines could be managed better but unfortunately there is always too much crowd and there is only little that the security guys can do.

Good Luck to all of you. I would be glad to answer anymore questions you might have..

Thanks

Thanks All for shared your experience in Immihelp..
This is great fourm to know Exact question in VISA interview...

First I prepared all the the experiences in immihelp..finally i got the 30 question nothing more than this.

Let me come to direct interview 15th Oct 9 AM @ Mumabi.

VO: Hi Good Morning
Me: Hi Very Good Morming sir..
VO: who is your employer
ME: YYYY
VO: Who is your client ?
Me: xxxxx
VO: what they do ?
Me: some bala bla...
VO: where your working currently?
Me : YYYY X
VO: how much Salray?
me : YYYY $ per Annam
Note: here i am not clear the question I asked again to him he said salary...gain...ohh then i said figure.
VO: do you have client Letter?
Me: yes
VO: could you please show me?
Me: that letter inside my employer confidential pocket...i tear it and handed over to him.

Note: for each question he is typing something in his monitor...
Vo: your Visa is approved..
Me: thx a lot ..you made my day..

Vo: Thanks...with smile..

Thanks Immihelp...

Regards
simha

Hi Guys,

Its really great to know all the possible questions/answers for H-1B / H4 but I have few specific doubts:

1) I am working in company A in India.
2) Petitioner is company B in USA who is fully own subsidiary of Company A

- If VO asks "Briefly describe your duties" - do I describe my current duties in current company A or I need to explain the duties that I will be performing at company B? OR VO will be specific in mentioning "on-site" etc?

- What should be my reference point DS-160? or I-129 for "Job responsibilities"?

- Note that there is bit of a difference in job duties mentioned in DS-160 & I-129 - & so the doubt. In DS-160 I have mentioned "Design & Development of customized SW applications..." whereas in I-129 is on lines of "Design of Test Plans, test cases, test case execution, result & bug reporting... etc etc". (I actually perform both kind of duties - but its about what to answer - as per DS-160 or I-129?)

- So what's my best answer here ? I can think of two short & precise sentences including both answers:
           - As a xxxx I shall be responsible for,
             Design of Test Plans, Test case execution & bug reporting And,
             Design & development of customized SW applications tools.

- Million dollar question :) - What does VO refer to - to cross verify our answers? DS-160, I-129 or Both?

Answers to my queries will be highly appreciated. Kindly help!!!

Hi,

I have two approved petitions (H1B) from two different employers. Both are approved on 22-July-2014 and both are from Vermont. I have attended visa interview with one of these employers. At the end of the interview visa officer was not able to find my petition in the system. Visa officer took our passports and original I-797 and asked to check the status in the website. It's more than two weeks happened now, still the status is same as admin processing.
Is this case belong to PIMS?
If so usually how many days it takes to update my petition (after completion of my interview)?
Can we do anything in this type of cases?
or else two approved petitions is the reason for delay in visa processing?

I kindly request the experts to give their valuable suggestions and comments.

Kumar

Hi,

I received 221(g) for my previous H1B in 2011 and my emplyer failed to submit them.
After that i received B1 in last year and have been to US.
My second H1b petition approved this year (2014-15) hence planning to attend visa interview soon.
Here is my question:
Is there any impact of 221(g) on my 2nd petition this year?
Please advice me.

I have taken scheduled my appointment in October last week.
Now I found that I have entered petition expiry date as 02/29/2016 but actual expiry date according to I797 is 30/09/2016.
So want to cancel my appointment.when I re-schedule it, can I use new DS-160 and new profile information(including petition section) with same visa fee bank receipt number?
Please any one let me know I am worrying about this

Thanks,
Prasad