L1, L2 Visa

My biometrics was on Oct 7th, 09:30 AM, and I reached OFC biometrics one hour before. The guards outside the gate were arranging the queues based on appointment time. There were normal security checks and we were allowed inside. Inside there was also a long queue and a security guard checked our appointment letter and asked for our passport and DS-160 confirmation page. As my daughter is with us, they give us priority and are allowed inside. I had some edits in DS-160, so I took both the new and old DS-160 confirmation page for reference. They see both old and new DS-160 and add stickers to our passport with the new DS-160 number. After that they have taken our fingerprints and photo, and added stamps in the DS-160 confirmation page.

Note - If you are traveling with minors, you have to take at least 2-3 US VISA size (2 inch X 2 inch) photographs. Make sure their head, eyes, nose and ear is clearly visible. In my case, I have to take a new photo of my daughter as her hairs are covering her forehead. They took Rs.300 for 6 photos (1 sheet). There is a provision of a private locker (Rs 50). Phone is allowed in switch off mode. When initially waiting outside the gate, suggesting to carry some hand fan or hard paper.

Next day on Oct 8th, 8:30 AM I have a consulate appointment. I was there on time. At the gate they verified the appointment and passport of all of us. Next, we entered a room where a lady gave us a template and said to arrange documents in the order which is mentioned in the template. 
Passport of all - primary and dependent.
Stamped DS-160 confirmation of page (primary applicant only)
2 sets of i129S (all 8 pages)
2 sets of i797 (first page)
$500 anti fraud fee (Credit card or demand draft)
They make a bundle of this ask to go inside.
The immigration team has suggested paying through Credit card and carrying a demand draft as a safer option. In the last option I also took some cash. After submitting the anti-fraud fee and paper verification, I was added to another queue for the final interview. As my daughter is with us, they give us priority and are allowed in front of the queue. There were different counters having different VISA category interviews; the consular was asking the questions behind the glass. 
My turn came, I was with my wife and daughter. We greet the officer with a smile and greeting - Good Morning, Officer. He replied good morning and asked for documents. I passed the documents from the counter below space. For a minute he verified the data looking into screen and then started questions:

VO: Are you here for L1B?
Me: Yes officer.

VO: Which company are you from?
Me: I am from XYZ company.

VO: What kind of company it is?
Me: Briefed 2-3 sentences about company.

VO:  How long are you working for this company?
Me: I have been working in XYZ Company for 5 years and 2 months.

VO: Who is your client?
Me: My client is XYZ

VO: Where are they based?
Me: They are in Seattle. (Then he looked into his screen for 6-7 seconds)

VO: How long will you stay?
Me: I will be there for 3 years.

VO: What is your specialisation?
Me: I hold specialisation in two of the XYZ company proprietary tools (mentioned tools and their brief). I have been working in these tools since inception and am a core team member. (He again looked into his screen for approximately 10 seconds)

VO: Place your right fingers in the scanner.
Me: Sure, Officer.

VO: Looking at my wife? Mam, could you also please place your right fingers in the scanner.
Wife: Sure, Officer.

VO: Your VISA is approved and you will get your passports in a week.
Me: Thank you officer.

He stamped on one set of i129S, saying your VISA is approved and gave it to me. He said a smiling bye to my daughter. No questions to my wife.

We came out with happy faces. Got the passport with VISA delivered in the next 3 days.

Note - Please check all the pages of i129S and i797 carefully. Anti fraud fee demand draft should be of current exchange amount on that date. One person in front of my queue has created the Demand draft of a higher amount, but the person collecting the anti-fraud fee did not take it and said they don't even take 1 rupee extra. Credit card is a preferred way, make sure you have enabled international transactions with no limit or limit greater than $500. Take all the required documents with yourself.

My case:
Sr Engineering Manager in a small US based IT services company with development center in India, I am with the company for 3 years. Company size: approx 400

I received my I797 approval in early July.

My interview experience:

VO: Please provide your passport and I797 approval
Ans: Provided

VO: So what do you do at your company?
Ans: I lead the cloud team. I also strategise—VO cut me across here

VO: How long have you been with your company?
Ans:3 yrs

VO: What’s your highest qualification?
Ans: B.E (Hons)

VO: What’s your US salary?
Ans: Gave him the number

VO: Where will you live in US?
Ans: Provided the name of the state only

VO: Your visa is approved, safe travels :)

Visa arrived on the 5th day after the interview day.

Interview slot at 09:30AM
Reached center at 08:45AM
I was let it at 09:00AM

I was out at 10:30AM

The entire experience was close to perfect. Good seating area outside the consulate. Lockers available nearby.

Got I-797B approval under individual petition in the last week of July.
Questions:
1. What is your designation in the US?
A. CXO

2. How many people do I manage from the US?
A. 10+

3. Which city will I live in?
A. XYZ

Asked marriage certificate for my wife. And then asked her to verify her fingerprints, and then mine were verified. Visa approved.

Hi All,

Thanks to this forum & helped me lot..

I had Biometric 18Sep & 19 Visa consulate interview and Approved.

18-Sep-2024
Nothing special in Biometric .

19-Sep-2024

Question asked to me.

Which state are u going?
What Role in USA
What USA Salary?
What do you mean Solution Artech ?
Why you only ?

Just 5 min interview and she said approved Visa ..

Hi All,

First of all thanks to this forum , it’s helped a lot .

Questions asked:

1.How many direct reportees ?
2.Yearly salary ?
3.How long you have been working with current organisation?
4.Do you have hiring and firing authority?

She said the words I want here , then I said thank you.

My guesss, My L1 A rejected previously few years back, What I observed is that you should complete at least 3 years for the current company.

Please go in suit , I feel that adds some confidence to you.

They are not accepting cash or debit card , please take only credit card or DD.

Thanks for all the users of this community, it helped me prepare for the interview.

Petition Type: L1B Blanket
Location: Chennai
Dependents: wife and my son (we didn't take him to interview)
Date: 20/08/2024

Had some edits in DS160 took both old and new ds160 but they are only interested in the stamped one. Lost old passport with a valid B1 visa 😅

I had my biometrics done on 8th of August and today my visa is approved.

It was a quick one, the consular asked me the generic questions but I did get tensed. Due to this, I have prepared something and answered differently

1. How long have you been working in your organization?
2. What are you responsibilities?
3. What you would be doing in usa?
4. The cloud migration is common these days. Why is you work special?

To my wife

Where are you working?
Do you intent to work ? To which she said no and she mean it.

There were lot of rejections before me for student VISA. But I beleive as long as your paper work is good and you come prepared you should not have any issues. Visa officer was casual but if if they aren't you can answer normally to the point.

Officer : Hello, good morning.
Me : Good morning, officer.
Officer: Please handover your passports.
Me : Here is the copy of my and my wife’s passport. We are together.
Officer: Are you applying for L1A blanket?
Me :Yes
Officer : I see you have spent significant time in the US previously. What was the reason of your multiple visits and longer stays?
Me: I was on H1B visa for close to four years and have been going on business visa for internal discussions and potential new pursuits, strategical discussions.
Officer: (Asking my wife) – Madam, you also seem to have spent 40 months in the US.
My wife : Yes, I was on H4 visa with him.
Officer: Ooh, so you guys are married. Do you have a marriage certificate, please?
My wife : Yes, here it is.
Officer: (Redirecting questions to me) Sir, are you going for a specialty occupation or as a manager ?
Me : I am going as a program manager.
Officer: Who are you going to work for?
Me : XYZ
Officer: And what does XYZ do?
Me: Told 2-3 lines about the company
Officer: Ok. Which state will you work from?
Me : New Jersey office.
Officer: What will be your salary ?
Me : XX USD per year base and bonus and cost of living allowances.
Officer: What is your highest level of education ?
Me : Answered
Officer: How many years of industry experience you have?
Me : Answered
Officer : What area of department will you manage ?
Me : Answered
Officer : How many reportees you have ?
Me : I have 5 direct reportees under me in the US.
Officer : and indirect ?
Me : That would be 23.
Officer : Do you have hiring and firing authority?
Me : Absolutely.
Officer : How much budget you will be managing?
Me : 2.9 M USD
(Officer starts writing on my I-129S..)
Officer : Congratulations sir, your visa is approved. You will receive your passport to your home address through courier in next 7-10 business days.
Me : Thank you very much officer and have a great rest of your day.

Hello everyone,
Went to Chennai Consulate for Visa interview along with dependent spouse on 28th June'24.
Before going for the interview I read the experiences which were helpful in understanding the current trend of questions.

Was staying in The Park Hotel which in walking distance.
Reached the consulate before 15 min

Officer called and asked below questions:-
- Category of Visa?
- Name of company
- Designation
- Since how long you with the company?
- What will be your salary in US?
- How many reports due you have at offshore?
- Do you manage budget?
- Do you have kids?
- She stamped and approved the petition and handed over to me
"Your Visa is approved and your passport will be delivered to you in next few days. Have a good day! Thank you!"

My exp:-
It was quick. took 30-40 min from entry to exit
Be alert and confident.. answer to the point clearly until asked in details.
Bring transparent folder for documents, easy to manage
Wear formals, look neat and sorted.
Avoid carrying mobile, car keys or hotel room keys, to save time and unnecessary formalities. Carrying wallet, cards, ID cash is fine, no objections.
No need to carry any photographs for attending candidates. Photos will be taken on the day of OFC appointment. Same photo will be on the Visa.

Thank you!

**Navigating L1 and L2 Visas**

The L1 and L2 visas are essential for companies transferring employees to the U.S. and for their families. The L1 visa allows intracompany transferees in managerial or specialized knowledge roles, while the L2 visa is for their dependents. Understanding the application process and requirements is crucial. Has anyone gone through the process recently and can share their experiences or tips?

Cheers
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This forum really helps a lot and makes you visa process easy. I just want to give back something to this forum and sharing my experience.

L1A Blanket - myself
L2 - spouse & kid (10 months)

OFC Biometrics - 6th May 2024 - 2pm

I live in Hyderabad, and we boarded an early morning flight at 6:45 a.m. to Chennai, arriving by 8:00 am. We took a taxi and arrived at Hotel Kings Grand Park, which is only 500 meters from the Visa biometrics center.

Our biometrics appointment is in the afternoon at 2 p.m. After checking in, I went for a walk to see the location and entry point of the Biometrics office. It's summer time and extremely hot outside. I booked a cab at 1pm and reached there about 1.20pm. The security guard checked the OFC appointment confirmation and asked to wait outside for 10 minutes and allowed inside.

The ground floor contains all internet, printing, Xerox, and photo stores. Visa Biometrics are on the first floor. As soon as you approached the first floor, they requested for your passport and DS160 confirmation document to verify your full name on both. Once verification is finished, they will apply a sticker to your passport and stamp the DS160.

Next, you will proceed to the photo counter, where they will take a live photo of both of us as well as our fingerprints. They requested our child's passport photo. We gave a 2x2 US visa passport photo, which helped. They will not accept photos in other sizes. No finger prints for children

In general, there will be a large line at the photo counter. We bypassed because we had a child with us. After taking your fingerprints, the biometrics officer will give instructions on how to attend the Visa interview.

Be on time for interview

Get your stamped DS160 confirmation page for interview.

All these people in biometrics are Indians. You will see similar environment during visa interview. Same cabin with a mirror in front of you and an American officer speaking into a mic.

If you have changes or modifications in your DS160 confirmation page. You can do that in ground floor.

We came out by 2pm. It took 30min.

Came back to hotel and took rest. Evening I went for walk to see the US consulate where the interview happens. Its 1km from my hotel. I see a hotel Park very next to Us consulate which is walkable to consulate. I enquired in hotel and found in goibibo there is US consulate deal stay which includes lunch/dinner with stay. I blocked the stay in The Park hotel for 23rd & 24th May in goibibo. My visa interview is on 24th May.

We returned Hyderabad next day afternoon flight.

US Visa Consulate interview - 24th May - 10am

Finally, the big day in my life arrived. All these days, I've been reading blogs and learning about other people's experiences in preparation for interview questions. I'm just eating, sleeping, and working on those questions. Prepared a two-page questionnaire.

Mandatory Docs required:

Passports of all primary and dependent
DS160 confirmation page of primary applicant only - stamped at biometrics
2 sets of i129s (all 8 pages)
2 sets of i797 (only first page)
$500 anti fraud fee (I took a DD of 42000 in favor of U.S. consulate general, Chennai)
On safer side I have credit card with international transactions enabled.
In last option I also took cash.

I carried all these in File 1

We flew to Chennai on May 23rd and arrived in the evening, where we checked into the Park Hotel near to the US consulate. In the evening, I went to the US Consulate and inquired about the kid food bag with security outside. If your child is under two years old, they will let a baby bag inside. We ate dinner at the same hotel because I had purchased the US consulate hotel deal that included lunch/dinner. My personal recommendation is that this is the best way to save money and time. That night, I double-checked all of my docs again and prepared for the interview. I carried the following extra documents.

1.Birth certificates - Original
2. Marriage certificate - Original
3. US offer letter
4. All Educational docs - Original
5. Last one year Pay slips
6. Last 2 years Form16/Returns
7. Last 1 year bank statement
8. Updated Resume
9. Org Chart
10. Certifications
11. Remaining pages of i797

All these above documents I carried in a separate file. File 2

That night, I barely slept for three hours. The next big day morning, we were ready at 8 a.m. and had complementary breakfast. I wore a blazer, which gave me some confidence and made it clear that I was there for L1A. We arrived at the consulate about 9.20 a.m. There are no electronic gadgets allowed. They permitted wallet, analog watches and kids' food bags with water. Initial check to confirm your appointment time and slot. Next, verify your passport and the DS 160 confirmation page.

Both checkpoints are located outside the consulate building. Once you've completed them, you'll be able to enter the consulate building through the main door. There will be a security check, similar to that seen at an airport. Take your blazer out for a security screening. After security, they will ask for which visa. If L1, they will offer you a card with information about documents you need to arrange.

2 sets of i129s (all 8 pages)
2 sets of i797 (only first page)
$500 anti fraud fee (I took a DD of 42000 in favor of U.S. consulate general, Chennai)
All passports

All of these arranged documents are stapled in two separate sets and kept with a rubber band around them to keep them together. You will be directed to another building for the visa interview. After entering the building, they took me to the anti-fraud fee without asking for my visa. Maybe it's because of the blazer.

A bit of a long line to pay these fees. They asked my wife to take seats nearby because my child is in a playful mood. They take both Demand Drafts and Credit Cards. I gave DD, and the officer said thank you for it. Make sure the date on the DD is no older than two months. They do not accept DDs that are older than two months. After receiving the DD, the officer gave me a payment slip and requested me to join the counter next to him.

Here, your DS160 information will be verified. In my case, my blanket petition number, i797, is new. I gave the old blanket petition in DS160. Officer inquired about your blanket petition number in i129 and DS160 not matching. I said that my organization received a new blanket petition last year. They spent some time checking the data. It appears that they updated my information to reflect the new petition number. Then they asked me to join the interview queue.

There are internal visa team members who can assist and guide you on counters and queue. I'm with a child; they skipped the interview line and immediately joined me at counter 16, where a mid-30s American was conducting interviews. I can hear a lot of questions, approvals, and denials. This is where you become nervous. Be confident; everything depends on the circumstances and the strength of your case.

Lot of other factors decide your approval, and the interview is only one of them. Coming to my case, there are two persons ahead of me at the counter. The first is for H1 and has been rejected with a blue slip. The second one is for F1 - refused since your case does not qualify for this visa. This scared me a lot.

Comes my turn. I greeted Good morning Officer, he replied good morning and asked for documents looking at my kid as my kid is hyper active and in a playful mood. Officer asked kids age and said he is in different environment and having fun. This conversation gave bit of relief from my nervousness. He requested my wife to take care of the baby on the way back, and we would finish the interview quickly.

For a minute he verified the data looking into screen and started below questions.

Visa Officer: Which company you are from?
Me: XXXXXX

VO: How long you are working in this company?
Me: I am in this organization for XX Years XX months

VO: How many reprortings you have?
Me: XX direct reportings

VO: Any managers in your reportings?
Me: No Officer. All are individual contributors

VO: Your salary in US?
Me: XXK dollars + Bonus

VO: Purpose of your visit?
Me: XXXX I explained about our project

VO: You handle budget?
Me: Yes

VO: You have authority to hire and fire?
Me: Yes officer I have both hiring and firing authority of my direct reports

VO: Are you functional manager?
Me: No officer. I am mix of both People and project manager

VO: How long you gonna stay?
Me: XX years

VO: Where are you going?
Me: XX city in XX state

VO: What's your wife qualification?
Me: She is having Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science.

VO: Please call your wife for finger prints
Me: sure officer (By this time i knew it got approved)

VO: Please place your finger prints there?
Me: sure officer

VO: Madam can you place your fingers there?
My wife: Placed fingers

VO: Your visa is approved and you will get your passports in a week
Me: Thank you officer

He stamped on one set of i129s saying your visa is approved and wrote visa expiry date and rounded L1 in that stamp and gave that to me. He kept our passports and other set of docs with him. He didnt asked me which visa category I applied for. My blazer might have answered that question.

He said a smiling bye to my kid while leaving.

We came out of the consulate with happy faces as if we achieved something big. Literally no words for me till I step out of consulate.

Same day evening after 5pm Visa status - approved
Next day afternoon 2pm visa status - Issued
Got the passport with visa stamped delivered in next 2 days.

Below are questions I gathered & prepared. These might help others.

Which visa category are you applying for?

Where do you work?

What does the company do ?

How many direct and indirect reportees?

All reportees from India?

Why are you moving while your reportees are in India?

What are the responsibilities of your repartees?

How many years of managerial experience do you have?

How many years you have been working with this Organization?

Why are you staying in this organization for so long?

Who is your reporting manager?

Do you handle budget?

Do you handle profit and loss ? If yes, explain how

Are you involved in hiring and firing?

What is your annual income/salary ?

What will be your role in USA/ Why is your company sending you on L1A

What is the team size you will handle there / Will you be hiring resources in USA?

Why cant this role be done from India?

Why you/Why not someone else/Why not someone from USA office?

What will happen if you don't go?

Which location will you be working from?

How many years do you plan to stay there?

What is the plan after that?

What is your role going to be?​