H1B, H4 Visa

Hi all,

First of all, thanks to immihelp for creating such a common portal place which is of great help for thousands of people. This site is very helpful one for many visa aspirants.

Let me tell you my experience in detail in delhi consulate so that it might be helpful for all.

My interview was at 10.00 am in the morning. I reached the embassy at 10.30 am.
Next Steps that happened are as follows,

1. Security check outside the embassy. He will check your bag(plastic bag with the folder) and all your body for other things. Please do not carry anything that is given in your guidance sheet which comes along with the interview letter.

2. Then you join a queue, a VFS person in the queue will assist you and arrange the following documents in order. Passport, DS 156, 157, Notice of action and the pink slip of the hdfc bank. Do not forget to write the name in native language in the 157 form.

3. Next you will be reaching a vfs counter where he will mark something in his computer, check the documents mentioned in 2nd point, place one barcode from the hdfc slip to the passport and then give you the permission to enter the embassy.

4. Now before entering the main visa interview hall there is a very small locker facility where you can place your mobile, keys and other stuff, and then pass through another security check and then enter the hall. I enterd around 11.30 am.

5. As soon as you enter the hall, right side, go for the finger printing(place your left and right index finger) and finally join the queue for the interview. No calls or tokens or anything in delhi. If and all any other procedure is there, VFS person inside the hall will guide you what to do. Those people are always there to help us.

6. While standing in the line do not disturb others as the VO can see you always. Try to maintain good attire.

7. Then came my turn for the interview, this was how it went(hardly fro 2 mins).

Me: Hello officer
VO: Hello sir, good moring. How are doing today?
Me: Very good morning. Im Fine and how abt you?

VO: For how long you have been working with current company?
Me: YYYY years

VO: How did you come to know about this US employer?
Me: blah blah blah

VO: What is your current salary?
Me: ZZZ

VO: What is your salry in US?
Me: YYYY dollars / annum

VO: Can you show me your LCAa and latest salary slip of current employer?
Me: Sure officer and shown them.

VO: Are you going to work in client place?
Me: No sir, it is an in house project.

VO: Please give me the project document and your itenary of services there?
Me: Sure sir, and I showed them.(please note to get the project details in company letter head

from your employer)

VO: Can you explain in brief?
Me: explained for 30 secs.

VO: What will you do after coming back to india?
Me: blah blah blah

VO: Ok sir, your interview is over.
THEN THE GOLDEN WORDS CAME FROM HIS MOUTH(as every body say, it really feels golden at that moment).......
YOUR VISA IS APPROVED. Your passport will reach you after 3 working days.
Me: Thankyou very much officer(left from the window immediately).

So guys dont worry much. Have all your documents correct and then some good preparation and confidence will give you success. The VO's are very polite and gud to us as for what I also scared. So do not scare or show any kind of low attitude while you are in the interview hall. It is so simple and easy. All the best friends.

If you have any queries wrtie to me at [email protected]

Regards,
Ram

I had to go to India on emergency basis (Family member's death) on Sep 1st 07. I did not had valid stamped visa, but had H1B 3 years approval notice with me at the time of travel which was starting from end of Nov 2007 to Nov 2010. I did not travelled to India for almost 6 years. I was getting 1 year extensions all these years and finally this time I got 3 years extension after my I-140 got approved. 1st thing I did after landing in India was to pay the HDFC receipt and wait for 2 days to get the receipt activated. Once the receipts were activated after 2 days wait, I tried to book appointment in Chennai(since I belong to AndhraPradesh) and surprised to see that there were no dated untill November 07. I tried at Kolkota and there were appointment with in 2 days that too non emergency appointment. I could have booked an emergency appointment at chennai, but opted to go to Kolkota. I took the appointment for myself and for my wife. We booked the flight tickets and went to Kolkota 1 day before the appointment date. The travel time from Airport to the hotel was around 1 hour 30 mins. We stayed at Hotel Neeranand. Some relative booked this hotel for me. This one is 30 mins drive from the consulate. On the day of the appointment we went to consulate early in the morning. Since our appintment was at 2:30PM in the afternoon, they did not allowed us to go inside untill 12:00PM. At 12:00PM there were only 10 people in the line. We went inside the consulate at 12:20PM, after passing thru security check. Once inside the consulate they asked us to put the documents in the order and present them at the counter. That guy (Indian) asked bunch of questions, like where I work, what I do etc. I had with me my daughters US passport. He asked me why my daughter did not come to consulate etc. I had to explain to him that she stayed with her grand parents. He asked to write Indian and US address on the forms. He asked to write full names of the colleges on the forms etc. He asked to write the name in our native language (in Telugu for us). We make corrections to the form using pen. Once the corrections were made, we were asked to sit. There were only 2 counters for the visa interview. After 10 mins of wait, they called our names. We went and greated the lady inside the counter. She asked, what I do, and what my company do. She looked at the marriage certificate and said, that she believes that we were married laughingly. After looking at my application, she commented that "so I see your green card is on your way pretty soon" and I said, I had applied my 485 recently. She asked me if I had the latest pay stub and when I told her it is at the back of the folder she is looking. Without even looking at it, she told, to collect my passport after 4PM at VFS center and gave me the address where to collect. I asked her what will be the start date on my Visa and explained since my extension does not start untill Nov 2007, I showed her my 1 year extension which was valid from Nov 2006 to Nov 2007. She told me she will give me Visa from today to Nov 2010.
We were out of the consulate with in 1 hour or so. We decided not to collect the passport on the same day, as our return flight was at 7:00PM the same day and the travel time from COnsulate to the airport is around 1 hour 30 mins. Also heard that Kolkota is famous for traffic jams especially in the evenings. Next day afternoon, the passports were delivered to our house address thru courier service. Check the visa and all the information were correct. It had an annotation explaning that the visa stamping includes 2 approvals forms and its petition numbers etc. in it. I was totally relieved after I got my passport with visa stamped in my hands. Whole process took 4 days after I landed in India.If you had any questions feel free to post it here and I will try to reply.
Thanks,
Sri

Hi,

What is the format of the letter from the client for the H1-B interview. I have an employment letter from my consultant but their clients do not give out letters. They either request verbally or sometimes an email.

Any help is appreciated.

Hi,
  iam Rajesh and firstof all let me thank site and persons who posted their experiences in this site.
    And if you want me to say my H1B interview experience in mumbai,i can say you are very lucky to have mumbai consulate for stamping.As they are very liberal in sanctioning the visas to really qualified.So mumbai candidates dont worry just keep proper documentation and simply pray your beloved GOD.This is more than enough to have success.To know about the question they ask,just gothrough this section of website its really good and covered all types of questions.


    And i wish you all a good success to other H1 aspirants.
ALL THE BEST.

Hello everybody,
I had my h1b visa last week. VO asked about my educational qualifications, current company, company in US and client. I was not able to explain the project description as I got the client letter from my employer on interview date only. VO asked me how many people work for my client. I said I have no idea. Then VO discussed some thing with senior members and said that they need to investigate the client and they will contact the client.

VO didn't asked for any documents and returned my passport. She said I need to wait for some time.

What does this mean? What will happen to my H1B?

221g is to verify the employers ability to provide the requested docs by the embassy so if the employer is able to provide all the docs as asked by the embassy its a cake walk and u will for sure get the visa even but only thing is it may take some time

Hi,

I attended interview on 18th Sep at chennai consulate.VO issued me 221(g)blue form ticking almost all the documents mentioned in the form.He told me not to submit passport along with the documents at the VFS centre.I am currently holding L1-R Visa.VO did'nt ask me to submit my educational certificates.He told that i have most of the documents but need some more from my petitioner.I will be submitting required documents next week.

 How many people have got their visa stamped after they submitted the docs mentioned in the 221(g) form?Usually how much time it takes to get a reply from consulate once all the documents are submitted at VFS office?

kindly reply

Thanks
Rajesh
[email protected]

Hi Guys,

I got stamped after 6 months after issueing 221(g). First time I droped papers after issueing 221(g) @ that time they sent back saying my application is in administrative processing, But again after 6 months they asked me to send back my passport, finally i got stamped.
So if you have proper documents dont worry u will definitely get stamped just be confident.

Thanks
Sampath

I hv appeared for visa interview on 24th Sep in Chennai. My observation is that the rejects are very less (2 rejects out of 20) on that day. The rejects are due to not answering properly or having false documents.

My interviews went like :

VO : where are you going to work in US ?
XYZ company
VO : how did you know abt this company ?
Refered by the friend
VO : what is the project ?
ABC Project
VO : Is it inhouse or client ?
Inhouse
VO : Who designed the project ?
XYZ Company
VO : for whom they designed this project ?
ABC company
VO : where are you going to work from ?
XYZ Company premises
VO : What is ur qualification ?
MCA
VO : Can I see ur certificates ?
Given certificates
VO : what is ur degree ?
BSC and given the certificates
VO : I don’t want certificates, just let me know the degree.
BSC
VO : fine… I will grant u visa and ur passport reach in 3 days. Have a nice day
Thanks, Have a nice day

Prepare well, be confident and answer to the point. You should be all set.

Hi All!!!


I have attended my H1B interview @ chennai on 25th Sep. They asked some questions regarding certificates, Current Job details, Prospective Company details. Answered accordingly. Then he(VO) took 221g(blue) form and pointed out for some details from company. I said that I have some of documents, But he asked me to drop the same along with other documents in the drop box. He retained DS156,DS157 forms. But he gave me back I797 form and other stuff. My problem is that he asked me, not to drop the passport along with the documents. Will it cause problem? What should I do?? Please can any one guide me. I am tensed. I appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Josna