H1B, H4 Visa

Many thanks to this site, bcz i have got an idea by seeing the experince shared in this forum. I almost covered 15 pages of experience before I go for PAI ;)

I had my H1B new visa stamping and H4 visa for my dependent on Feb 12 @chennai.

OFC experience: - 11th Feb 2013 10:00 AM

   I reached the TPL house(near SIET bus stop),cenatoph road by 8:55 AM. I came out from the building around 9:10 AM. Its enough to reach there before one hour. Otherwise you need to wait outside of the entrance.Process is very simple. Need to take DS-160 form,Appointment letter, original passport. We need to give our finger prints and to get seal on DS-160 form.Mobile phones are allowed with silent/switched off mode.

Personal Appearance Interview (PAI) experience :-12th Feb 2013 10:00 AM

I reached chennai US Embassy office at 9:10 AM. They allowed me inside after checking my appointment letter,passport,DS-160 form, they also checked my belongings. Mobile phones,electronic iteams are not allowed inside. Better to have only the required docs in transparent folder.

In entrance itself, they provided me a token number, this number is valid till all our process goes end. Again they checked my passport in separate counter. we have to wait till our token number is displayed on board. After that, we need to give our finger prints in another counter(we have to wait in another queue). Next, we have moved to another building for Interview. we need to sit till our turn comes. after displaying our token number, need to go to VO place. my interview goes like that.

Me:Good morning (with smiling)
VO:Good morning sir.. How are you? (with smiling). Passport plz.
Me: Fine:) I gave my passport.
Vo:Which company you are working?
Me: YYYY
VO:Who is your client?
Me: YYYY
Vo:how many years you are working in YYYY ?
Me:Answered
Vo:What is your salary in US?
Me:Answered(per annum amount told)
VO:how long you have been married
Me:Answered

Now questioning my Spouse:
Vo: Are you working?
Spouse: yes
VO: which company?
spouse: xxxxx
VO: Are you going to quit your job or taking long break?
spouse: Answered.
Vo: which location you are travelling?
spouse: Answered.
Looking at me
VO : you visa is approved.Just a min.I Need to check one thing in system.
(after 3 or 4 sec)
Vo: Ok. Fine.Have a nice day.

Me:Thank you . Have a nice day.

After that I paid money in blue dart counter for passport delivery. Its near to the counter number 12 or something. plz Dont forget to do that. bcz once you are out, you are not allowed to go inside then.

Thats all. All the best for all :)

Thanks all for sharing your inputs.

Below is mine...

4th Dec - Biometric
7th Dec - Interview
(Recd Blue Slip)
28th Jan - Docs Submitted
11th Feb - Received mail to submit passport
12th feb - submitted passport
14th feb - received with passport stamped

Hi,

I have approved petition number only from a company which is filed and approved on 2011 from a company 'A'.But due to some
unavoidable circumstances i couldn't go for stamping.And currently working for different company B and living in outside of USA.

Now i would like to use my approved H1B petition(only if it is active) to get VISA to work in US for a different company only if the company A not willing to process my VISA.

In such cases, is there any way that i can use my petition number to get VISA from different company B?will it be possible?
If it is possible, what are the options for me to proceed?

Please suggest.

Many thanks in advance..!

Thanks to this portal. I gain my whole confidence from this site only. Now it's my time to write visa interview experience.
I had my interview in US Embassy, New Delhi today.

OFC - 12th Feb, 2012 at 03:00 PM

It's a 20 mins straight forward process. Documents required are Original Passport, DS-160 confirmation page and Interview appointment confirmation page.

Interview - 13th Feb, 2012 at 08:00 AM

I reached there around 06:45 AM. A lot of people were already there. They let us inside at 07:30 AM. I was the first person who went inside the New Delhi consulate today. Then after all the formalities, I was called for the interview. It was cool and simple interview with around 10-12 questions. I was much confident and cool that I will get it.

Here is how the interview went :
Me : Good Morning !
VO : Said Nothing :(

VO : Where are you going?
Me : City, State

VO : What will you do?
Me : told about my roles and duties.

VO : From how long you are working for this petitioner.
Me : I said, I have not worked for them yet. I will work for them.

VO : How much experience you have?
Me : 6.5 Years

VO : Where have you worked?
Me : Told my current and previous employer details.

VO : How did you find about this Job?
Me : Through a Job portal?

VO : Which one?
Me : Dice.com

VP : What you will do for them? (He repeated the question)
Me : again told about my roles and duties.

VO : Where will you work at at your employer or any other place?
Me : At my employer's office. (Since I am going on inhouse project)

VO : Marital status?
Me : Married.

VO : Is your wife not travelling with you?
Me : No sir.

VO : Why?
Me : My daughter is too small to travel.

It took only 20 to 25 mins, I was out of Embassy before 08:00 AM.

I can see my application status online and it's saying 'Issued'. I hope I will get it by tomorrow.

Key : H1B visa interviews are simple, I don't think you would reject unless you have wrong documents.

All the best to all future candidates !!! Meet you in the US :)

VO asked below question -
1. Company Name
2. Client Name
3. Salary
4. How many people attended your wedding.

VO asked below question to my wife -
1. When you got married
2. When you mate your spouse for the first time.
3. Love or arranged marriage
4. Can you show wedding album.

Thanks IMMIHELP team and members for sharing your experience. It was helped me lot.

My OFC was on 6th Feb with familly members. Sine i was with my 7th month old so they quickly allowed me to enter inside.
Its straight forward process. Documents required Passport, DS-160 conformation and appointment letter, KIDS photos if they are with you.

Interview was on 7th Feb at 9 AM , allowed to go inside since i was with my kids.

Me - GM
VO - GM and ho are you
ME - i am good thank you. how about you.
VO - me doing good.
VO - so whats your highest qualification
ME - MSC Computers science, master of science in computers as specialization.
VO - so which client you are going to visit this time?
ME - ZZZ
VO - you visa is approved and you would passport in few days.

Checked visa status on below website on few hours it was showing admin processing, i was little worried and thought may be its 221g. But thought to wait till 5 pm and status changed back to Issued. Received my passport on 12th Feb.

https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Default.aspx?eQs=WwjqOlbeRYzCYubaSQI+RA==

Best luck.

Regards,
Amol

First of all I am not sure if this is right thread to post my questions or to request anyone to respond. So please go easy on me :)

To brief about me - I started working on my OPT since Feb-2008 and then later my H1B visa which got approved on Oct 1st, 2010.

Client whom I am working for past 3 years have office location in UK and I need to make business visit after which I have to go for H1B stamping (first time H1B stamping after my F1).

Am I eligible to go for first time H1B stamping in UK? I know many colleagues of mine went for H1B extensions but none of them are for status change or I haven't come across (even tried to search forums) anyone who went for first time H1B stamping in London.
I know many of my friends got their first time H1B stamping in Canada but not sure if its same in London.

And in Mexico website they clearly mentioned that Third Country Nationals* residing in the United States may apply to renew a visa in any category except B1/B2 or H2.
http://mexico.usemba...-can-apply.html

So Mexico is not an option as per above mentioned details in US embassy website.

But there is no such section in US embassy website UK. So can I take first time H1B appointment in US Embassy located in UK? Do they take 3rd country nationals residing in US for new H1?

Please suggest me..Thanks !!

Dear all,
First thing first - Many thanks to each and everyone who share their experience and helped us get our H1B-H4 stamped at Hyderabad.
Background : I work for one of the major Indian based IT company and under BEP.
OFC (6-Feb-2013) : My biometric was scheduled at 11AM morning and we reached there at around 10AM.I was not sure about the exact location. Google map does not help much. OFC is at same lane on that of the US consulate. Though from main road i.e. S.P road Begumpet, building is visible, its entrance is at Chiran Fort Lane only. So get into the Chiran Fort Lane and you can see the OFC.
Aged and couples having children will get the preference in the queue. Only documents required is Appointment Letter, DS-160 and passports. That's it. Straightforward process. We were out by 11:45AM. NO TENSION.

D Day (7-Feb-2013) : The day started very early. Appointment time : 8 AM. We were present by 7.15 AM there. No mobile phones, No CD,No pendrive,No big bags. By 7.55AM, we were allowed to get inside.

After security check, again were asked to sit in waiting area. On officer came and asked us for the documents. DS-160, Appointment Letter, Bank receipt (MRV fee receipt),BEP letter,I-797B copy, passports. Stapled the documents and gave us a white pamphlet and asked us to proceed to counter 3 for document check-up. The officer, an Indian ,no smile , no wish (May be we are like this only) :). Checked the documents, verified in system. After that we were asked to move to waiting area inside and get the token.

We got our token and time was written 8.15AM. After sometime our token flashed with counter no. 14.
Main interview , Officer an American male, around 30. He was talking to his colleagues. I wished politely 'Hi', he said 'hi' (still with his colleagues)

VO : Sorry for the delay
Me : No problem
VO : So what do you do for YYYY X ? (May be from system or by looking my tag he noticed it)
Me : I am a software developer, I work on SharePoint.
VO : Total expedience in YYYY ?
Me : 1 year, 5 months.
VO : Total experience in this field ?
Me : 4.5 years.
VO : What is the project about ?
Me : Explained. (My client is giant in Automotive sector)
VO : Salary in US ?
Me : YYYY X USD on annual basis.
VO : Where will be staying ?
Me: Detroit, MI.
VO : How you have been married ? Is she the one? Looking at my wife and smiling.
Me : I said YYYY years. My wife gave a big smile as well.
Pause for few seconds.
VO : I am indent to approve your visa, but the system is a bit slow. I will do it sometime in afternoon.
Me : Ok. (I was tensed, felt like is he going to ask me to wait till noon)
VO : Have you seen this ? (the white pamphlet)
We : Yes sir. We got that.
VO : Mam pls put your left four fingers on the green light. Done
VO : You also pls put your right four fingers. Done.
You will get your passport in less than a week's time.
Me : Thank you . Have a nice day.
VO : You too.
No documents asked. We were out 8.50AM.
My opinion , we should know our details very well. Smiling and confidant faces are always loveable.
Best of luck !!

Hi all,

First of all thanks to everyone for sharing their experience.
I had my H1B-extension stamping in Chennai on Feb 1st (OFC was on 31st Jan).

Background : I work through a BEP(Business Executive Program) based company in US and when i filled my DS160 for the stamping actually i filled the old petition number instead of the current one.
I was afraid that i have to cancel my current appointment and fix the new one.My employer told me that this is not a problem and advised me to correct the DS160 and carry both the old and new DS160 confirmation page to the OFC and they will take care of re-tagging.
I called up the Usatraveldocs call center to confirm the same.They also told me the same.

OFC experience:

I corrected the DS-160 and took both the confirmation sheet as advised.I informed at the first counter about the DS-160 mistake and they actually did the re-tagging without any issues.

They paste the DS-160 bar code in the passport and in my case i had both the bar codes(new and old) and the old one was crossed off by pen.

Then they capture finger prints and photo in the second counter.I was told to carry the original appointment sheet containing the old DS-160 bar code and the new DS-160
confirmation sheet to the consulate.

Consulate experience :

At the consulate entrance they check for the correct appointment date and time and hence appointment letter containing the old DS-160 bar code doesn't matter.
They verified and let me in and went through normal security check.
At the first counter where the document verification happens i told about the DS-160 mistake.
The officer asked what was the mistake and i told them that i entered the incorrect petition number.
Since my passport had both the bar codes she ensured that she was scanning the new one in the system and also she verified my I797.
Next She asked for my petition bundle,BEP letter and then clubbed them with the passport and handed over to me.

In the next counter they just scanned my new DS-160 bar code and then verified my finger prints.

Now they asked me to go to the next building for the interview.

I was asked to take a seat on entry and guided by staff to the appropriate counter.

The interview was simple and the officer just asked for my passport and some basic questions like which employer,client,location.

He then told that my visa is approved and should be getting my passport in a week.

Next i had pay for the courier in the separate counter and got the receipt.

They told me that i would be getting the passport in 7 working days and its been 5 days and i am yet to get the passport.

Basically i just wanted to convey any mistake made in DS-160 is not an issue.You just correct it and let them know at the OFC.

Thanks all and wish you all the best for your stamping.

My H1B was pending 221g Admin processing(small pink slip)
Went for H4 after 48 days of no status update.

Below where the questions asked.
-Where does your spouse work
-Who is her employer
-Did you work and who is ur employer.
-Salary slip and W2 of spouse
-Whats your spouse birthday
-When was your marriage
Handed pink slip for additional processing and aksed to go to counter 31

Counter 31-
- Simbling details
-Previous employers
VO went inside with the passport and came back
-Since your H1B is already pending processing,check that status,this is to avoid duplication of admin processing

VO took the pink slip and passport.