H1B, H4 Visa

Could everyone post any status updates for November 2011 221g cases green slip or others as well......

Hello,

I had my visa interview yesterday for a student visa at the US consulate in Hyderabad. My case was a little different from others because I already had a valid F1 visa and needed another one as I had been out of the US for more than 5 months. I got my first F1 visa in 2008 (valid till June 2013). I completed my MS in 2010 and worked for a year in the US till July 2011. Then I spent 3 more months in the US traveling around and then returned back to India. I got a PhD admission for Spring 2012 and hence needed another F1 visa to go back as I was technically 'out of status'. I got a fully funded admission but I was still a little worried for my visa interview (because I knew that I will have to clearly and succinctly explain why i need a second visa and also properly take care of the dreaded 214(b) clause). Here is my experience:

I got an interview slot of 9:15 am. I reached the Consulate at 8 am. The police constables asked us to come back at 9 to be able to get into the consulate. At 9 I walked into the US consulate and went through security check, document review, finger printing etc. All this took close to an hour. Finally i got the token for my visa interview. I waited for about 15 minutes in the waiting room before my token number was called for. There are three interviewing counters in the Hyderabad consulate and they are open (no cubicles like Bombay ) hence you can pretty much hear what questions the three officers are asking and what responses they are getting. This can either help you or distract you, so be careful

The interview: I had an Indian guy (may be an American Indian) who took my interview.
Me: Good Morning
Officer: Hi
Officer: Took my documents, looked at his computer and said 'so you already have a valid F1 visa why do you need another one?'
Me: I explained him that I did my MS and worked for a year and then returned back to India.
Officer: Excuse me, so you did not finish your MS?
Me: No, I did finish my MS from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Officer: Can I see your transcripts from MS?
Me: I gave him the transcripts and my degree certificate. He did not take the degree certificate.
Officer: He looked at my transcripts then asked me why i want to go for my PhD.
Me: Because I enjoy doing research and I want to be a professor.
Officer: Which campus are you going to?
Me: University of Texas at Austin.
Officer: What is your field of research exactly?
Me: Robotics and Controls.
Officer: Your visa has been approved.

Then I walked out and was glad that it did not turn out to be that big of deal that I was thinking or making it to be.

My advice based on this experience: practice your answers before you go for the interview. Write down answers to all the common questions and practice them. The answers should be short and to the point. The longer you ramble, the longer the interviews goes, the more questions/doubts come into the Interviewer's head and the more questions he/she will ask. Practice your answers, dress formally and smartly, and at least look confident even if you are nervous on the inside. These things make it a little easy.

Good Luck.

Hi Guys,

first I would like to thank everyone in this forum for posting their experience which helped me in preparing for my visa interview.

My background:

Full time employee - being with the same company for past 4years.
These are the questions asked:

What's your highest degree.
What does your company do
Do you work at client location. - No

that's it. It was less than 15secs.......

Thanks once again for all your experiences....

Best wishes for you guys too

I have applied for H1-B visa and interview was on 8-Dec-2011. In August 2011, my L1-B visa request got rejected.

Below are the questions which were asked by VO:

1. Who is your petitioner?
2. Details about petitioner company and client
3. Petitioner Company and Client location, and salary.
4. Date of travel
5. Why do you need to travel to US?

Read DS-160 carefully as most of the answers you will get from that document.

After these questions, VO checked all the documents and asked me for 'Work Order'. I have shown her the contract between the client and petitioner company. However, she was not sure whether Contract is the document which she was asking as 'Work order'. She went for 1-2 minutes and asked for all document once again when she came back.
After another 1-2 minutes, she said 'You can go and kept my passport'.

So, finally Visa got approved and get the passport on monday.

Thanks a lot to 'immihelp'and All d best to all who are going for interview.

Main key for H1-B visa interview are the documents and rest leave on VO.. give your best..!! :)

I appeared for the Visa stamping interview in Nov last week at New Delhi, and it was approved without any hassles. The interview lasted less than a minute and involved very elementary questions (Company name, designation, domain, how long with this company, What before this company). The Visa-officer didn’t ask to see any documents.:-)

Also, you may like to know that I didn’t see any rejections on my interview day(At least, that’s what I could tell from what I could tell from expressions of people coming out of their interview!)

VO: Hi, How are you?
Me: Doing good. Hru?
VO: Good.

VO: Who is your employer?
Me: YYYY X

VO: How long you are with them?
Me: 1.5 yrs

VO: What's your highest qualification?
Me: B.Tech (Bachelor of Technology)

VO: asks, Is it 2 yrs or 3yrs course?
Me: Firmly, It's a 4 yr course ma'am (She Smiles and says okay)

VO: What's your Indian Salary?
Me: xxx,xxx Rs/annum ma'am

VO: Where are you going to, In US?
Me: xxx (City), xxxx (State)

VO: What is your salary in usa?
Me: $ xx,yyy Per Annum

VO: Where is your LCA?
Me: This one and passed on to her.

VO: Can I see your BEP letter from Company?
Me: I was searching for it, could not get immediately (to cover that), I just asked did you ask the Client Letter Ma'am..

VO: She said no BEP Company Letter and asked to give Client Letter too,
Me: Gave Client letter which was in my hand and she started reading it and meanwhile I got my BEP letter, I gave it to her.

VO: Is xxxxxxx is your client?
Me: Yes, ma'am.

VO: What does they do? why they need you now?
Me: Explained in 2 sentences and told about my need and work confidently. It was convincing enough, I think. No reply or questions.

VO: She was looking @ computer for sometime and then she smiles and asks you know what is this? (shows me the Rules and Regulatory Document)
Me: Replied, it's the white pamphlet for the US of A travellers (with guidelines and rules).

VO: She smiles and says, I am approving your Visa sir, you would get your passport in a weeks time. She returns all my letters , except BEP letter and writes A on it and attaches to the passport.
Me: Thank you Ma'am. Have a nice day.

Be confident and clear enough
Sort the docs properly, dont spend time on searching(some ppl get irritated and send back to seat etc..)
Read peition copy, LCA and Client letter and make sure to talk the same when they ask about it which should sync with that docs provided.

Hi All,

These are the question VO asked.
Me: Good Morning sir.
VO: Good Morning
Me: How are you?
VO: I am do good, How are you.
Me: fine sir.

1. Are you working for xyz company?
    Yes Sir....
2. Who is your client ?
    abc
3. what location you will be travelling ?
    abc (city) xyz (state)
4. What salary you will be getting ?
    xyz dollars
Asked for petition document. Verified salary in the documents.

VO: Have you read the pamplet.
Me: Yes sir I have read it.

VO: sir your visa is approved but we need to have a administrative process in your case. Please go to counter number 31.

Me: thank you sir.

I thank god it was not rejected.

waiting for my passport, Dont know when I will get that. If any one has gone through the same process and got their passport. Please update a comment for the same.

Questions
1)Employer Name
2)Client Name
3)Any middle vedor in between Employer and Client
4)Destination City
5)Highest Qualification
H4 Questions

1) WHen was the marriage
2)Your husband will help for cook?

BEP case.

very simple questions

what is your highest qualification?
company petition
asked some languages
asked about client

then he said golden words visa is approved

thanks for this site for sharing experiences

First of all thanks to immihelp and all the people for sharing all the info that helped us in preparing for the interview.

Questions that were asked

To me:

- Which company are you from
- Whats your highest qualification
- Which university
- where will be your physical work location in US
- How much are they going to pay you

To my wife:

- Who is this man
- Are you sure :)
- How long have you been married
- Is it arranged marriage
- where were you born

Later , Golden words "Your visa has been aproved" :):):)