H1B, H4 Visa

After all the formalities, finally the time came to face the VO

Vo: Nodded his hed, when I and my wife go to the counter he asked is xxx is your token number ?
me: yes and I said " Good morning officer " with a smile

vo: Morning, your documents sir
me : gave the documents and smiled looking at his face, but he seemed to be serious to me.

vo: To which company you work for ?
me : xxxx

vo: But your I -797 says yyyy
me: If I go to US I will be working for yyyy company.

vo: What will you be doing there ?
me: ............... told for 2 min and I am lost of words now so stopped but still VO is looking , I have restarted explaining in detail. This time very slowly.

vo: Started at me for few seconds and asked what will be your salary?
me:xxx

vo:what is your highest qualification ?
me:xxx

vo: Is it 3 years or 4 yers
me: xx

vo:what is your oeverall IT experience ?
me: x

vo: Do you work for any client?
me:yes

vo:Is there any vendor between your client and company
me:no, It is a direct contract between my company and client

vo:do you have client letter
me:showled the client letter and also the purchase order/contract between client and company

vo:do you work at client location?
me:My work location is mostly at company and may go for mettings to client location.

vo:how often?
me: May be a week in every quarter.

vo:you madam (to my wife) how long have you benn maried
mywife:x

vo:how did you celebrate your last anniversary?
mywife: bala .... bla...

vo:Okay sir, I am approving your visa and you will get it in a week
me: thank you officer

vo:have you red the white card
me:yes

My advise to all:
Organise your documents well to grab them as quickly as possible.
Smile at VO when ever possible.
All the questions asked are from LCA/I-129 and DS-160 or any other docs you give to VO
Please go through all the Docs carefully.
Most of the answers are there in your docs.

Team,
Today i have got H1B and H4 approved in chennai.

Pretty good interview. Very casual questions. whats your role, who is ur client, whats your degree qualifications(to my wife), how long have you been married, how long staying in current company and Total experience.

Good luck guys.

Me: Hello Good Morning
Vo: Very Good Morning

Vo: So you are working for whom
Me: I am with ZZZ

Vo: How long you are working for them
Me: Almost 5 years now

Vo: Is this your Son
Me: Yes (I was carrying my 3 months son with me, I applied for him too (H4))

Vo: Where is your husband
Me: His employer is filing his L1, He shall join us there once his visa is done.

Vo: Whats your salary?
Me: its YYYY

Vo: Did you read this template:
Me: No (There is some template they give at visa office , its about some rules to obey when in US), I had no time, my number appeared immediately so did not have time to read it, but i will read that once i am done.

I thought its almost done, but then he asked me last question after answering which i thought i lost it, but god was with me and i realized my mistake and immediately turned up the story.

Vo: you have travelled to US before on your B1, how long you were there
Me: Yes, i was there in 2009, i was involved in business meetings and automation.

Vo: what automation, you worked there?
Me: yes we had test cases which we automated

vo: That means you worked there?
Me: (Now i realized i made big time boo boo so i twisted the story) what i meant was, we defined test strategy about future automation project, i have my automation team sitting at offshore. once i came from there , we carried out the work here in offshore.

He started staring at me and playing with my passport, meanwhile he kept my kids passport in his tray so i was little sure that i m through, but the way he was looking at me i thought i lost it.

Vo: Do you know working on B1 is illegal
Me: Yes sir, thank you

after a pause he said golden words, your visa is approved, you shall get it in 3-4 working days.

Me: Thanks and have a nice day.
Vo: Thanks, you too.

i really almost started running from there thinking to run away before he changes his mind.

so friends, just be sure what you say, I knew it i am NOT supposed to say WORK word for B1 but it naturally came out and i was in danger zone.
He had all reason to reject my H1 visa but god knows he might have liked me from my previous answers and might have approved my visa.
Also he might have soft corner for me as i was having a kid of 3 months with me.

Moral of story: you sometimes say truth without thinking the result, but atleast at visa consulate you have to look truthful even if you slip somewhere.

Best of luck!!!
Snehal intervied at Mumbai 11Jan 2012 @ 10am

Hi All,
First congrats for who have got the visa and all the best for people waiting to get one.

I would like to share my experience here. Guys , Just relax and things will be in your way. the key is TO PREPARE WELL.

am lucky to have very simple questions and here it is...

whats your employer name?
whats your client name?
explain about client project?
Salary Deails ?

They key is to use key words such as "DIRECT CLIENT" for client project wh doesnt have any vendor. Also you need to strss thta you work "FULL TIME" "ONLY" for your employer.

They check the key words and confidence in you. Just relax and talk softly and slowly. Dont rush with your details.

All the best for every1. Enjoy your life.

Thanks
Andy.

Hi, thanks to Immihelp and one and all who post their experiences, I recieved my passport with H1B stamped for 3 years.
Below are the questions asked in my H1B Visa interview.
VO. Hello
Me. Hello
VO. Where you are working?
Me. XYZ
VO. What it will do and what is your role?
Me. Explained about work
VO. How long you are working for this company?
Me. abc years
VO. What is your highest qualification?
Me. xyz
VO. Which university?
Me. xyz
VO. Where you are going?
Me. ABC, parent company of my current company
VO. Which place?
Me. XYZ
VO. XYZ York city?
Me. Yes
VO. What is your salary in US?
Me. $ZZZ
VO. Are you going to work for clients?
Me. No, I will be working for ABC.
VO. Show the documents I129, LCA and documents submitted to USCIS?
Me. Sowed
VO. Have read this (asked by showing the white pamphlet) and understood?
Me. Yes….Yes
Golden words: Your VISA approved and you will receive the passport in 7 days.

Thanks for the previous posts here which helped me prepare my case really well and now its my time to contribute my experience<br/>
 
VO are friendly people and are there to grant visas. So try to be honest, cool, calm and confident <br/>

Date Jan 11 2012 08:45 am

EVC model <br/>
First time H1<br/>
MS-CS from well known university in US, F1 expired more than 2 years ago <br/>

I was dressed professionally in business suit and a tie<br/>

After all formalities and paper checking i went for finger printing. In the mean time my token got called and i missed it as finger printing took longer. Talked to Indian ladies helping out there and they asked me to stand in queue where other person was getting interviewed. To me it appeared like other H1B candidate and he also got visa. I boosted my confidence. Then came my turn<br/>

American Lady as Visa Officer<br/>

I: Good Morning Officer(exchanged smile)<br/>
VO: Good Morning<br/>

I: Officer I am here for my H1B stamping and here is my passport, I797, Ds 160 confirmation and also my approved LCA<br/>
VO: Took all documents and started typing<br/>

VO: Which company you work for<br/>
I: told <br/>

VO: What they do?<br/>
I: told with list of their achievements <br/>

VO: Do you work on-site or off-site?<br/>
I: I am working for xxx client on behalf of my employer, Also, mentioned the 2011 Fortune List No, revenue in $billion, and business of my client<br/>

VO: What is client address?<br/>
I: aaa (as in LCA )<br/>

VO: Who is you manager?<br/>
I: yyy from my company (Always your H1B petitioner should be you reporting/controlling manager)<br/>

VO: Do he sits at client site with you?<br/>
I: NO<br/>

VO: Does he visits your client?<br/>
I: NO<br/>

VO: Where do your manger sits?<br/>
I: bbb location<br/>

VO: What far is bbb from client address?<br/>
I: told zzz miles approx.<br/>

VO: Then how he can manage you?<br/>
I: told<br/>

VO: Oh this is your first time H1B?<br/>
I: Yes, Officer <br/>

VO: Then how did you get this job?<br/>
I: told i am in Us for so and so and finished my masters and got job after i graduate<br/>

She looked at my F1 stamp<br/>

VO: So, you finished you Ms from xxx
I: No, i finished it from yyy (gave the reason for transfer as new university was highly acclaimed for computer science)<br/>

VO: What major you finished you MS<br/>
I: told; was same in both universities and both are well known for CS deptts. Also shown her my degree quickly. She looked and said Thanks, you can keep it<br/>

Then she was typing on system for some time <br/>

Then came the Golden words "I am approving your visa and you will get you passport in mail in 5-7 days" <br/>

One suggestions to everyone: Guys please be calm and confident. I had seen lot of people getting rejections today but they were not well prepared and not speaking with confidence.<br/>

Also try to exchange smile as much as possible<br/>

Last suggestion, Know you project, client, company all be heart and describe really well is as short time as posssible<br/>

Hi
Immihelp was very useful and this forum was giving more idea/confidence to attend PA.

well, today i had interview at chennai with my family for H1/H4 visa. i am attending PA for usa first time,

questions:
counsellor officer was a lady.
CO: good morning.
Me & family: good morning and thanks. my son was saying something, even i didnt hear. CO thought that my son is also saying HI.

CO: hi - to my son

me: gave passports and DS160 forms only...

CO: how old is your son?
we : .....

CO: <to me> what is your highest qualification?
me: ...

CO: Who is your client ?
me: .... ,

CO: <to my wife> what is your qualification?
my wife:....

then she was typing something in system and me to wait for a moment..

CO: can you tell me again your client name?
me: ....

CO: your visa is approved and you will get passports in 5 days. have great time in USA...
we: thank you so much...

this was our communication.... no documents were verified.

Notes:

my wife was wearing specs in passport photo. so she was asked to take another photo inside the premises while the document was verified. hence there was a delay.
So whoever wears specs, it is adviced to carry a photo without specs in standard size.

The interviewer was a lady and it was on 9th Jan 2012.
The questions were straight forward.
1. Whats your highest qualification.
2. How long you are in the company.
3. Do you work in client location.
4. What do you do there.

For my Spouse:
1. How long are you married.
2. Where did you meet your husband,
My wife got confused with the question and the language she used.
My wife asked her to repeat the question again (as mine is arrange marriage) with bold voice, but not harsh.
My wife is very much bolder than me.
Interviewer was staunt for a minute and did not speak for a while.
Then my wife itself answered her, ours is arrange marriage.
3. She asked for the album.
I passed few photos, how much ever I can hold in one hand and I told I have much more and took out from cover.
She just seen 4 to 5 photos.
Then she told visas approved, will be couriered and will reach in 2 to 3 working days.
I told her thank you very much and returned back to hotel.
The whole process from out side the consulate to interview took just 30 to 40 minutes.

Hi All,

I wanted to share my H1 visa interview experience. This forum helped me a lot in preparing for my interview.
I hope reading my experience would help someone in preparing for their visa interview. All the best to everyone who are planning to attend H1 visa interview or waiting with a 221g.

I had my visa appointment at the Chennai consulate on Jan6th, I receive my passport back with stamping on Jan 10th. The interview was smooth & straight forward.
 Below were the questions I was asked during the interview.
 
Here are the questions I was asked during my interview -

Did you have a H1B before?
Who cancelled your previous visa in the passport
 What happened with your previous visa interview?
Who is your employer now?
He asked me the question again -
What business they are into?
How did you get this job offer?
Who is your manager?
What do you do for the client
What is your role/responsibilities?
How did you meet your manager?
Where are you located?
Where is your manager located?
Do you have the client letter?
Asked me to submit my petition documents (passed on)
What is your salary?
What is your highest qualification?

I received my passport back today from Blue Dart courier.

My 2 cents here - There are few questions that you need to prepare well before the interview -
- What business is your employer into?
- What is your role/responsibility?
- What is your project all about?
If you don't stumble while answering the above questions then I think you'll have fair chances of getting your visa

Apart form above all the other questions are generic & can be answered right away.

All da best to all the H1 visa aspirants - Pls dont panic while answering the questions - The VO will keenly observe your behaviour. As long as your case is genuine with all the paperwork then I think you will get your visa.

Thanks.

First,Thanks to Immihelp which serves as a platform to share the interview experiences which has helped!!

I had my Visa interview along with my wife and kid at Chennai.The interview was pretty smooth.


I went 30 mins before the interview time but they let me in immediately.

After all the initial checks and fingerprints completed,I was waiting for the interview at the counter

Officer : Who is your employer and who is your client?
 
Me :My employer is YYYY and my client is YYY
 
Officer :Have you been to US before?
 
Me :Yes,I was working in US.I was on L1 before
 
Officer :Do you report to your Onsite supervisor?
 
Me :Yes
 
Officer : Where is your client located?
 
Me : mentioned my clients location
 
 
To my Wife:
 
Officer : How long you are married?
 
Wife : answered
 
Officer : When is your husband's birthday?
 
Wife : answered

The visa was approved.

My observations from the interview.

1.Your confidence plays a major role.The guy in front of me had his interview for more than 20 mins.His answers were not convincing ,body language not confident and his visa was rejected.

2.It all depends on the consular officer.The consular officer in my counter was scrutinizing every applicant.
But the othere 2 consular officers who were (left & right) of me were approving it without many questions being asked.

Be confident and spontaneous with your answers.