H1B, H4 Visa

I am going to attend the visa interview during last week of September at Hyderabad consulate. Could you please share your experiences who attended the interview recently at HYD consulate. What is the success percentage of HYD consulate?

Hi,
first of all a big thanks for creating such a nice forum and to all the people who shared their experiences. I know by experience that it helps a lot. I feel an obligation to write down my experience.

My interview was scheduled for 09:00 AM today and I reached the embassy at 08:45 AM. There were hardly 10-15 people in the queue so wasn't a long wait. Inside after the security check, they asked for the passport and a photocopy of the petition (797B). Unfortunately I was not carrying it, so they just took the original and stapled it to my passport. Then they made us sit in rows of chairs (around 09:00 AM). After 5 min.s they asked 2 rows to go inside, where again there was a small queue and the finger prints were verified again. After this, there was a slightly bigger row with around 25-30 people in the area where the visa interview was taking place. My turn came in another 10 mins and following was the conversation:
VO asked for my passport stapled with the petition and nothing else.
VO- So you work in YYYY company?
Me- Yes
VO- Who's your end client?
Me- YYYY
VO- What would be your salary in US in USD/ year?
Me- YYYY
VO- What is your highest qualification?
Me- I told him.
VO- Ok, your visa is approved and he handed me a small booklet mentioning it has the details on my rights in US.
Me- I just thanked him and left, but then I remembered that he had kept the original 797B letter which was stapled to my passport, so I ran back and asked him if he would be keeping the original as well?
VO just said that I would get it back. I assume with the passport I'll get back my original petition too.

So, that was it, quite simple and straight forward, he didn't even check any of my other documents. The whole process took hardly 30 mins. Please don't panic and be confident, God willing it'll go well.
Best of luck to all future aspirants!!

Thanks,
AS

P.S.- Take a photocopy of the petition also.

Hi,
My husband is on H1 visa which was valid till march this year..He filed for both his H1 and mine H4 extension and he got the approval for the same but my H4
Still shows in pending status..Its been over 6 weeks but still shown in pending status.
Both me and my husband have to visit india in october this year, can anyone tell me if my H4 can be stamped along side
my husband's h1 stamping on basis of
my husabnd's I-797 at the US consulate in India while my H4 extension still shows pending?

Hi All,

           First of all I would like to thank you all for posting the personnel experiences at the consulate.

Here goes my experience:

            I have attended for H-1B visa interview on 02-09-2014 at 9AM. Cleared all security checks and waited for more than one and half hour, to get my serial no. I went to the queue and all types of visas are rejected as there are no proper documentation, little bit scared after seeing those candidates. As the lady seems to be too serious when asking the questions but cool when she is speaking to us. Then came my turn and she asked for the passport only. handed over it and gave a smile. Here are the questions posed by her.

1. Who is ur client.?
Ans: ZZZ
2. What is ur salary in US$.?
Ans: ZZZ$
3.where is the company exactly located.?
Ans: ZZZ,(City,State).
4. your salary is too low as compared to the other companies in the united states, what is the reason for that.?
Ans: Although it is low but it satisfies the prevailing wage for that particular area according to DOL, LCA.
5. Where are you working right now.?
Ans: YYYY Limited.
After that she asked me too keep my right four fingers on the scanner and asked all the documents sent by my employer.
then handed over all the docs and asked me to wait outside for some time. I have waited for nearly 45 mins and then came my name from one of Indian employee working in consulate.

Went and stood first in the row. I thought tat she will be starting the interview again, she scanned my passport again and started typing something and saw my face once. I didn't understand her expressions as I am little bit tensed. After two mins of typing something there comes the golden words for me. "SORRY FOR KEEP YOU WAITING, THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE, YOUR VISA IS APPROVED, YOU WILL GET A MESSAGE WHEN YOUR PASSPORT IS READY". Huh, I have no words to explain that moment. Said Thanks and came out of the room with a big smile. Nothing else as she didn't ask my present & past work experience letters and pay stubs & bank statements etc.

My suggestion is Just be confident and answer to them frankly with a smile face always. do not be scared even if they ask you the question you don't expect.

All the best guys.

Thanks for IMMI help for having this helpful forum.
My OFC appointment was on 28-Aug and the Visa interview on 2-Sep.
Today I went to Embassy for visa interview in Chennai, when my turn came, the VO didn't ask anything from me except the passport.
He asked only only one question "Where you will be working ? whether in client place or in your office premises?"
I answered that I will be working in office only... Thats all, its over...
He told me that my Visa is approved and gave me the pamphlet explaining the rights to work in US. I said thanks and came.
Hopefully waiting for my passport...
If your company and documents are genuine then no need to worry... All will be set ok...
All the best for everyone who are going to attend the Visa interview.

First of all , I would like to express my sincere Thanks to ImmiHelp
for creating such a wonderful forum. Although there are tons of forums
existing and tons of posts online, it was ImmiHelp that I sought help from.
It is more analogous to the existence of thousands of trees but the only tree
that you would be greatful is the one which you rested under its shade.

Ill Start with detailing my experience from the time i got down at Chennai Railway
Station. Our train from bangalore reached at 4:15 AM. It was pouring like Cats and

Dogs. The Pre Paid Auto Counter opens only at 5:30 AM so just trusted one auto guy
who charged Rs 200 for a meagre 3 KM distance.

OFC appointment was at 1130 in the morning. We reached at around 10:50 and saw that

there were two queues. One for ppl with 11 AM appointment and one with 1130

appointment. We ignored the queue and took a walk and drnk the costliest tender coconut

at 60 Rupees. At around 1115 or so joined the queue and went in.

This was the smoothest process. We had an umbrella which they didnt allow inside so

just put it on the stair case and proceeded in where they checked our documents and

pasted a barcode on our passports and gave my wife and me seperate tokens. We were

called in to two different counters and we were asked the same set of questions.

1. What VISA category, when is the interview, then took our pics and finger prints and
asked us to go the consulate no earlier than 15 mins before the actual interview time.
We were done and had the whole day for roaming around chennai.

Next Day: Appointment time 8 AM. Reached the consulate around 715 and we were made to

wait in a ginormous queue and we were allowed inside the consulate at around 5 mins to

8 AM. Security wise everything was similar to OFC. There is acounter near the queue

where you can deposit all your belongings like cell phone etc. We chose to leave them

at the hotel.

There are two rooms inside the consulate ( more like two buildings). The first building

had counters and seats and queues except that it was deserted and it was not

operational. One guy probably from VFS asked us to go directly to the second building.

The moment we entered the second building, a lady at the security desk took the

passports and checked us in. Since were were the first few of the 8 AM slot, we were

rushed in to a counter (number 18) where our finger prints were collected/verified.

Left four fingers for me and right four fingers for my wife.

The officer asked us to wait in teh seating area and someone will call us for the

interview. No Token was given. Even before we were out of the queue #18, a guy rushed

us in to counter 17 where the officer looked like either he was at the end of a

tiresome shift or he was just up from his sleep and was beginnign the day. There were

two people ahead of me. One lady for H1 and a couple visiting their son-in-law for B2s.
Both of them got approved. The lady for H1 got the white pamphlet and the golden words

as well.

Our turn came in and we both stepped forward.

We: Good morning Officer, How are you.
VO: Good Morning, can i see your docs?

We: Sure. And passed the Passports.

VO : So where are you going.
Me : City and State in the US.

VO : Who Do you work for ?
Me : XYZ Inc.

VO : How long have you been working for them ?
Me : About 8 Years now.

VO : What is your designation?
Me : Stated the OCC Code 30 in the approved petition as Computer Systems Analyst.

VO: Are you going to work for a client or employer directly ?
Me : Client, which is ABC Corp.

VO : Do you have a client letter
Me : Yes and showed him that.

VO : I See you have an L1 B Rejection in the past, so what happened.
Me : The VO felt that Needed to apply in a different category as L1 was not appropriate
at the point in time and asked me to reapply in diff category.
VO : And you reapplied in diff category indeed.

VO : Do you like Winter because the state you are going to is very cold
ME : I love the winter because i come from a city where it is a 100 degrees.
VO : I understand but most of your countrymen seem to not like winters so i Just asked.

VO : KEPT TYPING SOMETHIGN IN HIS SYSTEM FOR ABOUT 60 SEconds non stop and put our

passports in the tray behind him
ME : Thought that interview was through

VO to my Wife : Are you his wife ?
Her :YES

VO : ANy Kids ?
Her :NO

VO : Suddenly shudders and says I SEE your petition is not valid and gets up from his
seat and calls someone else to his desk. Takes our passports back from the bin and puts

on the desk.
WE: Chills thorough the spine.

VO and another guy :talking on mute for about 2 mins
We : Waiting.

VO : Scans the barcodes on the passports and puts them back in the bin
and utters the golden words "Your Visas are approved"
We : Thanks and have a good day!

I think what the officer meant was that my petition is not valid until OCt of this year
I heard the golden words but missed the rights pamphlet and did not get it.

That night while on our journey back to BLR, we checked our status on CEAC website with

the DS 160 # and saw that it changed to "Administrative Processing" and
was utterly shocked. Didnt know what to do. A lot of posts online say that for some

people the ADMIN processing after VO said issued took around 2 months to move from that

state. Well the next two days were spent in agony and pain and waiting to see the

status move from ADMIN PROCESSING. ON the third day morning at around 11 AM the status

changed to Issued to both of us.

Two days after that received a mail from travel docs asking us to collect our

passports. One interesting thing on the stamped Visa is a section called Annotation

which said "NOT VALID UNTIL SEP 21st 2014" for both of us. Which means we cannot travel

before that and it is understand-able. Let me know if you all have any questions and I

will be glad to answer them.

Hello,
I had my visa interview today at Mumbai Consulate. The VO said that the visa has been approved and PP will be returned to me in 2-4 days. However when i came home and checked the visa status on CEAC website, it shows "Administrative Processing". Last updated was 02 Sep 14.

I dont understand, as i was not given 221(g) slip not the visa officer requested any documents.

Please help!

Thank you

I had my visa interview on 29th August at Delhi consulate.

My I-797 original first page was stapled with passport and after interview , visa officer kept my passport.

He did not return I-797 back to me.

So Is it required as I need to apply for H4 as well. Will they give it back with passport stamped.

Anybody gone through this. Please help

Hello all,

First of all I would like to say thanks IMMIHELP forum which was of great help during my H1B interview preparations.

I am sharing my H1B visa interview experience of 27th & 28th Aug 2014 @ Mumbai Consulate.

DAY 1 - 27th Aug 2014 - OFC Appointment @ 12:30 PM

This went very smooth. I reached there with my family ( my dependents; wife and kid) around 11:40 AM , and there was a queue for all those who have their

appointment slot for 12:30 PM.

-Docs checked for OFC
1. DS 160 confirmation
2. Appointment confirmation page
3. Original passport for all ( including dependents applied for H4)
If all above 3 docs are ok, VFS staff will mark STAR on your document , to indicate that documents have been verified and correct.

Once verified and you enter the premise, at the first counter they will put BARCODE sticker behind your passport.

Whole process took 20 mins in total. Remember they will stamp your DS160 confirmation page once you are done with fingerprinting and photo.

They did not took any fingerprints for my kid as he is still below 14 yrs. They did fingerprinting for myself and my wife. Photographs clicked for all.

We completed this all around 12:40 PM and it was very smooth.

DAY 2 - 28th Aug 2014 - Consulate interview; Appointment @ 11:00 AM

Reached US consulate @ 9:45 AM. 1 hour and 15 mins earlier than my appointment slot .

As soon as we reached I left all electronic stuff in the car. Mobiles/ TABS/ Laptops , if you are carrying any. Just carry all docs (in folder) with original

passport.

Entered the consulate 9:50 AM. And they allowed us inside 1 hour earlier. At the entrance they checked our DS160 ( which was stamped during biometrics) and

also the appointment confirmation page.

Then we headed towards security check counter which is very much similar to security check at airport. You have to keep all your stuff in tray and they will

scan everything . Once completed security you can proceed to an open waiting area. Here you can sit down in queue and they will let you know your queue as

per your interview slot. Waiting in queue (sitting) for 10 mins and our turn came for finger print validation.

At the counter lady asked for my photo graphs, possibly my photo they click earlier was not good or not uploaded. But she asked photograph of my kid and

myself. I handed over 2 photographs 1 for my self and 1 for kid. She confirmed that she will upload the same and we have to wait for a while.(Better to carry

photographs , good that I carried photographs for me, wife and kid).

We were again waiting at bench for like 10 mins. Then they called me again to check my fingerprints. All set and clear now they give a go ahead and told me

to stand in visa interview queue.

While in queue some VFS staff were telling again and again , to just keep original passport (for all applicants) + original I-797 approval in hand. No

documents outside please.
Take out the documents only if Visa Officer (VO) asks for document during interview.

Then after 5 mins we were assigned to window 34.

My turn came finally

Me : Good Morning officer...
VO : Good Morning...

VO : Give me your Passport and I-797
Me : Hand it over him all 3 passports along with original I-797

VO : Who is your employer ?
Me : <<Answered accordingly>> ( here they are asking about ur employer in US, not ur current employer in INDIA, in case they are not same)

VO : What are you going to do for them ?
Me : I will be working as Programmer Analyst for them , and also added my roles and responsibilities . Answered this question accordingly in like 40

seconds. (VO is entering some details in computer screen as I am answering this question )

VO : How much experience you have as a Programmer Analyst
Me : << Answered accordingly>>

VO : Are your working on client side ?
Me : Yes . << Answered accordingly>> ( told him my client name )

VO : What is your highest degree of qualifications ?
Me : Masters of computer application. MCA

Then VO asks question to my wife
VO : Ma'am, what is your highest degree of qualification ?
Wife : << answered accordingly >>

After every question VO will enter some details in his system . So there is a pause of like 5-10 secs after every question.

Finally he pulled out the while pamphlet and told golden words " Sir your visas are approved ".

Before leaving the counter I also greeted "Thank you officer, have a nice day" . He returned my original I797 and kept all the 3 passports with himself.

Some Tips.

Try to reach at 30-40 mins prior to consulate , if it is really not a busy day for them , may be you can enter early as I did.

Please go through you Client Letter and Company supporting letter and try to remember your client name. Your US employer type of business.

I was out by 10:20 AM. It was a very easy process and I was set to go home even before my interview slot time ( which was 11:00 AM).

Hi all

Thanks for all your help and the experience you shared. My OFC was scheduled on 28th and it wend very smooth. I got free within 10 minutes.

Next day I went to US embassy in Delhi around 8.15 AM. My appointment was at 9.AM. After all checking I entered embassy around 8.50. Gave finger prints their and started waiting for my turn. Finally consulate called me and asked following question

ME: Good morning sir
VO: Good morning

VO: Give me your all PP(spouse and kid) and 797
ME:Given

VO: Where are you going to work
ME: Fremont,CA

VO: Which company
ME: YYYY XX

VO: Tell me about your company
Me: Explained

VO: Designation
Me: YYYY XX

VO; Where working in India
ME: YYYY ZZZ ( working with same company)

VO: So you are transferring to same cmp
ME: Yes

VO: Total Exp in current cmp
ME: 3.6 ( I have total 7 year of exp)

VO: when you got married
ME: told the exact date

and the golden words

VO: Ok I am issuing you visa you will get information about your PP with in 2 3 days
ME: Thanks and came out from embassy with smiling face

Checked today online and it is displaying "ISSUED" .

does It means stamping is done and they will dispatch all of my PP soon?