H1B, H4 Visa

Hi All,

I had my H1 and H4 visa stamping dome today.

I went with my spouse, we were married 10 months ago.

I was pretty late to the embassy. Had my appointment at 10:00 am today, but reached the embassy at 10:05 am.

Ladies were allowed to carry hand bag ONLY if they go in with kids.

My wife is pregnant, still they did not allow her hand bag. Had to deposit on the platform stall where they print tokens and keep your bag/mobile.(Queue for that too, the cart guy asks for your DS 160 and appointment form :( )

Then security frisking, and you go in.

Step 1:

You will be issued a token at a counter

Step 2:
According to the token number you will be called for document verification.

Step 3:

After document verification, you have to do finger print scanning.

Step 4:

You will be asked to go to another building, where you will be called again with the same token number.

THIS IS WHERE THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW HAPPENS.

(Till this point it is only VFS guys(Indians) will be issuing tokens, verifying documents)

Here is how my visa interview went;

ME: Good Morning
VO: Good Morning

ME: How are you doing?
VO: Am fine, thank you. How are you ?

ME: Am doing good , Thanks.


I was wearing my company ID

VO: You work for YYYY ?
ME: Yes

VO: Who is your client?
ME: YYYY X

Visa officer then turned to my wife and greeted her

VO: How long you were married?
My Wife: 10 months

VO: Is it arranged or love?
My Wife: Arranged

VO: is this a happy marriage?
My Wife did not get the question so I answered, Yes pretty much :) (Not sure whether she is ;) )

VO: Did you read the white booklet?
ME: I browsed through it but not read it completley

VO: Smiled and said ''Thats fine''

Then he kept both the passports with him and said YOUR VISA IS APPROVED and YOU WILL GET IT IN 5 BUSINESS DAYS :)

Came out happily, but forgot to pay the DD for courier :(

I was not allowed to get back again by the security.

Luckily, there was a person from YYYY company who was very kind enough to take my DD and courier address inside and give it to the Premium Courier counter.

Overall, it was a good experience.

This is the fifth time I am applying for US visa.

2 H1-B did not go through the lottery in 2007, 2008

L1-B Individual - RFE - Petition rejected - 2007
L1-B Blanked - Rejected in Embassy - 2008

Did not expect I will be asked only few questions :)

Be confident and Maintain eye contact. You will get through for sure. And lastly, smile :) It really helps.

Thank you IMMIHELP for providing a virtual preview of the process before I actually went for the interview.

Dear All

I have some queries like ….
somebody getting case number and somebody not getting case number
which one is the positive sign or critical and one more thing
somebody getting administrative process and somebody getting additional documents submission
here which case is critical and which will take longer time…
if anybody have an idea please share the same. It will more help to others.

Thank you.
Shridhar

I had my OFC on 10th December. I already had my fingerprinting done on 15th November. But I was asked to reschedule my actual appointment to some other day as it was admin day in Hyderabad. Hence I rescheduled and printed an appointment confirmation letter with the old DS-160. OFC saw that I brought the same DS-160 which I had used on 15th November and asked me to reschedule both my OFC and appointment again. I talked to 3-4 people and finally they allowed me. Reason was I did not attend the actual interview and my DS-160 was not used up. They did not take my fingerprints but let me go as a post no-show.

Actual interview was on Dec 11th. 11:00AM. I went there 1 hour ahead of time. 10:30 batch people were standing in line. We were asked to wait. After they sent the 10:30 batch people in, we were allowed to stand in line. Stood in line for about 20 minutes before we were sent in.

They checked the appointment confirmation at the gate and let us in. Once inside we were asked to sit. After sitting for about 10 minutes, a guy came and called our names. He checked our DS-160 and we were sent to security. After passing through the security, there is another waiting area. There the officer asked my I-797 and pinned it with my DS-160 and appointment confirmation. Then we were asked to go to a counter. There they checked my DS-160 again and confirmed my H1-B petition. After that I was sent to the finger printing confirmation counter. After that was done we were given a token and asked to wait in the waiting area. After waiting for about 15mins my token was called and I was asked to go to counter 15. VO was an Indian looking guy in his late 30's. I sat before the counter as the VO was interviewing others.
He rejected an F1 candidate, approved one tourist visa, approved one B-1 candidate. Then I was called.

VO- Hello, How are you
Me- Fine, How about you? (passed my passport, DS-160, I-797 and appointment confirmation letter)
VO- Tell me about your company
Me- It is a product based company
VO- So you don't work for a client
Me- No
VO- Where are you based?
Me- YYYY X
VO- Can I see your paystubs
Me- Sure (I was searching my files for the paystubs, I had loads of documentation)
VO- So what is your designation?
Me- (Still searching) I am a Software Engineer.
VO - What do you do for your company?
Me - (Still searching) I design software, develop software, test software (too much of vacation time and I gave this stupid answer :) )
Me - Finally passing in my paystubs.
VO- He glanced through the paystubs and said, your visa is approved. Have a nice day.
Me - Thank you. Have a nice one.

That is it. In counter 16 there was a white lady. She rejected 2 F1s, approved one F1 and one H1-B. One guy whose F1 was rejected argued with the officer saying that people with percentage less than that of him are getting approved. True to his word, the guy who got his F-1 approved had 10 percent less than the guy who had his F-1 rejected. But he had a good GRE and IELETS score and had good universities and overall a good attitude. I guess the key is good documentation and how you present yourself.

Hello Group,

Can we schedule the OFC appointment @ HYD and VISA appointment @ Chennai / Delhi consulate, did any one gone through this scenario, please advise.


thanks.
Raju.

I was in USA on L1B with Employer "A".

My L1B visa with employer "A" and I-94 expired on 25-Apr-2012
"A" filed L1B I-94 extension early in Apr.

Employer "B" applied for my Fresh H1B with CoS request.- Apr-2012

Received RFE on L1B - Jul-2012

Received RFE on H1B asking for project details - Sep-2012

RFE response sent and Changed H1B to PP -Sep-2012

Received another RFE on H1B as there was RFE on L1B - 15-Oct-2012

Response sent for RFE on L1B - 20-Oct-2012

Response sent for RFE on H1B - 03-Nov-2012

On 16-Nov-2012 L1B Extension denied and H1B visa approved with consulate processing (CoS denied)
I left USA on 25-Nov.

I am planning to go for visa stamping. I am worried as this is fresh employment with small employer. I have a letter from employer and details of in house project.
What all documents I will need to minimize rejection?
Additional information
The company is in operations since 2004. It has 39 employees and has gross rev of ~$2 mn. As I am going to start employment on reaching USA is it going to work against me? Also, do I need any documents from current employment? Can you suggest if there are any specific documents which I should carry for interview

Is it worth risking rejection?

In I-129, I have client address as X, but now I will be working for the same client at different location Y. I have a new LCA for location Y. My work remains the same. DO I need Amendment here? I am yet to attend visa interview.

Does anyone got the visa approved without any any issues? Or Does anyone got 221g ??

Thanks in Advance.
Senthil

Hello Guys,

Got my h1b stamped on Nov 30..
Interview was good.
Questions.

1)Which company ?
2) Salary ?
3) previous comapany?
4) when did you grad?
5) onsite or offsite?

Your visa is approved.

Hi,
I thank each and everyone whos posted their experiences here. It really helped me a lot.

I have attended for Visa interview on 06-Dec-12. VO was a old lady and she was very friendly.

The questions asked are:
Me: Good Morning Madam.
VO: Very Gud Mrng. Are you from YYYY company?
Me: Yes
VO: documents please
Me: passed on the passport and token barcode
VO: Highest qualification
Me: Btech in CSE
VO: How long hv you been with ZZZ?
Me: 4 yrs 3 months
VO: Who is your client?
Me: ZZZ
VO: work Location
Me: YYY
VO: Salary
Me: answered salary in USD
VO: What will you do at client location?
Me: told about my activities there.. before i could finish my sentence
she smiled and told "your visa is approved" and then gave me the white pamphlet to go through.

All the best to everyone.

Thanks,
Suneel, Chennai

Hi All..

I had my H1B visa interview on dec 5th at chennai consulate..
VO asked me few questions abt the employer, work location and educational qualification and asked to wait for a while..Then I was called back and issued a 221(g) white slip with administrative processing checkbox checked..VO told that they dont need any documents from me and asked me to check the status online with the case number mentioned on the white slip..
VO returned my passport but took my degree original certificate, employer and client related letters, my experience letters,LCA and I797B..I have been checking in the PDF uploaded in the chennai consulate site for my case status but to my surprise I couldnot find my number there..All the number series before and later to that of mine are available in the document..
I am worried so much firstly because I have submitted my original certificates and secondly because my case number was not shown up in the document..
Can someone please let me know if u have a similar experience or any way to track this case?

Hi,
Today (1oth Dec)i have attended for H1b Interview..and below are the Questions..

1)Are you from xxxxxx compnay?(Since i wera tag) he asked that question..

2)
Who is your client..

3)What's your highest Qualification
4)why you are going there..

That's all..it took nearly a min..he said I am approving your Visa..you will get your passport within 5 days.

All the Best :)