L1, L2 Visa

Last week, I had my L1B blanket interview in Chennai. I want to share few practical info.
In BioMetric centre, you can park your car inside or next-by streets. We can carry mobile phone, watches and purse during the BioMetric session.
In VO interview campus. Only two queues will be there. They will allow you just before 15 minutes. Though people reach early and jam the queue, they won't get allowed. So Please just reach 15-30 min early. Purse and Normal Watches are allowed. Mobiles are NOT allowed. Digitial watch or other digital things are not allowed. Handbag or Laptop bags are allowed, No issues. Kids food also allowed. I went with my family, so skipped a big queue inside the VO campus. I paid the Fraud Detection fees in first counter. Please note that they will allow only credit card, not Debit card. No idea on cash.

In Interview, the questions were
which company? you have been in US 3 times already? which visa? what is the salary? how long you want to stay? where do you stay? your experience? experience in current company? WHY YOUR SKILLSETS ARE SPECIAL? Important question. Then The officer searched few things and stamped the I-797 sheet.

Preparation is very important, Practice the answers, If L1B or H1B Please go with family, at least to avoid the queue. I have collected around 30+ questions and wrote my answers and practised many times. That gives some confidence to answer.

All the Best.
 

Hi,

I want to update everyone that we can book both appointments on single day itself. My Bio Metrics appointment is at 8:45 ( and i am out by 9). Consulate appointment is at 11:30 AM on same day.

Since its 20 mins far from bio metric center . I went directly to consulate. However looking at long queue and sun, i went back to hotel and came at 11:45 AM. Yes i was late by 15 mins because of some protestation and it caused heavy traffic . After taking alternative route , i managed to reach 15 mins late. Staff were very polite and rest of the process is same as in other posts.

Visa Type : i said i came for L1 B extension and then regular questions followed.
Where do you work
what is your salary
Since how long you are in this company?
what is your specialized knowledge ?

Since i work on multiple products, i mentioned everything . However VO asked for specific product and then i picked my expertise product name , she typed that product name in her application

which client do you work for ? ( since my company is product based, i just said i work for my company and company has many clients)
she asked for any specific client you are working currently ? Then i said my client name here.

She stamped two documents and returned.

Hope this might help someone.
All the best

Hi,

My L1B Blanket visa was rejected last year December and company filed L1B individual in following month. Which is approved from USCIS and now I am filling out DS160 for me & my-wife & kid.

I have 3 questions around the same , can anyone please help in this?

1. Start and End date on the approval notice is 29th March 2018 - 28 March 2021 . But my joining date in US office in 1 may.
So should I mention same dates as 29/03/18 - 28/03/21 as my start/end date Or should it be 01/04/2018 - 30/03/2021 ???

2. There is question if my visa was ever rejected?
Should I answer YES -- since L1B Blanket petition was rejected
OR
Should I answer NO as it was petition which was rejected not VISA (got this answer on one of the post on this website but need confirmation on this)

One last question around interview :

3. If VO asks me why your last petition was rejected? what should be the answer?
It was rejected with reason "clearly not approvable" - should I just give same answer OR anything else?

Please let me know any other suggestions if I should be careful about.

Let me start by stating that this forum is of immense help and everyone must go through the first-hand experiences of so many members. Nothing was asked to me which was any different from rest of posts here. Here's my overall experience.

3rd April 2018: Biometric at 8:15 a.m. We (my wife and I) reached the VAC at 8:10 a.m. No need to arrive too early as the whole process is quite streamlined and all the employees are pretty efficient in helping you get through it. We were out in 15 minutes.

4th April : Interview slot at 8:30 a.m. We reached the consulate around 8 and there was a huge crowd. Trust me, you don't need to go too early and join the crowd. There are coordinators who would make sure alternate queues are maintained and folks are guided inside at their scheduled slots. We were let inside by 8:30. It will be helpful if you don't carry watches/wallets as there are unnecessary questions and people ask the same thing multiple times!

The whole process is pretty detailed in so many posts here so I won't outline them again. For us, the whole process of getting our documents rearranged, anti-fraud DD verified, passport verification and fingerprint re-verification took nothing more than 15 mins and we joined the queue for Visa interview. It would help you if you have first 8 pages of I-129S, first 3 pages of I-797, passport and DD arranged. It would save you some 5-10 minutes. Also please write your name and passport number behind the DD (if you're carrying DD for anti-fraud and applying for L1-Blanket).

It was some wait before our turn and we were guided to one of counters. There was one applicant (alone) and he was having a lengthy conversation with the VO after she had handed him the blue slip. Trust me, you don't want to do that. She was visibly getting irritated and asked him to step aside several times. Once decided, nothing you say or prove could possibly change their decision. I felt a little disappointed since we were next. But then recollected myself saying that he just might be having a bad day! Relax, every case is different and the last thing you could do is to let yourself down at that moment. Smiled and waited patiently till VO asked us to step forward.

She greeted us with a smile.

Me: Good Morning, Ma’am!
VO: Good Morning, Can I have your passport and papers? (8 pages of I-129S and 3 pages of I-797 along with anti-fraud DD receipt).
 
Me: Sure! (Handed over the documents).
 
She took everything and started typing on her computer.

VO: (After a while. It was a long and unusual pause as I expected the first question right away) Who is your petitioner?
Me: YYYY (my current company).
 
VO: What’s your designation in India?
Me: I’m working as a Manager (Software Development Engineering).
 
VO: How long have you been working with ZZZ?
Me: Six years now, Ma’am.
 
VO: How many people report to you?
Me: 10.
 
VO: What will be your role in US?
Me: I’ll be stepping up as a Technical Program Manager.
 
VO: How many reportees in US?
Me: 8 (6 from India and 2 in US).

VO: What would be your salary in US?
Me: Base salary of ZZZ,ZZZ USD.
 
VO: Who will you report to?
Me: I’ll be reporting to YYYY who is Director of Program & Product Management.

VO: (Smiled and said) I don’t want any names just their designation.
Me: OK.
 
VO: Who does he report to?
Me: VP of Engineering.
 
VO : And who does he report to?
Me: SVP.
 
VO: And he reports to?
Me: CTO.
 
VO: And?
Me: to CEO :) (I was wondering what should I say next)
 
VO: Started typing on computer and took blue slip and stamp. She was almost ready to stamp documents but then again put everything down and started typing at the computer. Finally took the blue slip wrote something on the top and said: Unfortunately, the scope is very narrow for L1-Blanket application and I cannot approve your visa at this moment. Take this blue slip and show it to your HR they would know which visa category you need to apply for.
Me: Ok Ma’am. Thank you. Have a nice day!

No questions to my wife. I was definitely dejected for a while since I thought the interview went just fine, no red flags, no stutters , nothing that could possibly hint me something was wrong. Said to myself: Not the end of life, bad day for me too :) smiled and left the counter.
 
I was talking to several people and re-searching immihelp forums. This is a common case of rejection given following grounds:
1. L1-Blanket approval rates are lower than L1 Individual. More so at Chennai consulate.
2. Case/Petition wasn’t strong enough.
3. Reporting structure/Org-chain not pretty solid.
4. Low salary (I really don’t believe this was case for me).
 
I'm now in process of talking to attorneys and see if I need to reapply for L1A-Individual. What do you guys suggest? How long it has taken for someone through similar experience?

Thanks.
 

Just had my L1A Blanket visa interview today at the US Consulate in Singapore.

Profile. British national working with an American investment bank in Singapore

VO. Asked for passports.

VO. Asked where I was going to in the US.
ME. NYC.

VO. L1 Visa managerial or special skills
ME. Managerial

VO. Do you manage resources
ME. Provided numbers (X Direct)

VO. Do you have Hire/Fire authority
ME. Yes.

VO. Asked about Salary in US/Singapore
ME. Provided numbers (> 1XX K base)

VO. Asked about academic qualifications
ME: Provided info (MS from US Ivy League, MBA from top 10 school)

VO. Made few remarks about my, wife's work experience in London and asked if we met in London
ME. Replied courteously

VO. Asked me to pay an additional fee for spouse visa (some sort of reciprocal fee between US and UK) and informed the passports will be available for collection in 3 days.

Hi Guy's,

Anybody has experience a case like their status was in administrative processing since 2 and half month and after that visa has been approved, please share your experience guy's, if you were faced this type of issue, it will give us moral support.

Thanks a ton waiting for reply.

Thank's
Shilpi

Hi All

Thank you all for sharing your interview experiences as it immensely helps the visa aspirants.
Please donot stress out as that's not going to help you in anyway and try to keep your calm all the time in the consulate, because the time you are in the consulate office is very crucial. Pray your god and believe in your god and you will come out with success.

Donot carry cell phone or any other devices as these are strictly prohibited and there is no facility to keep them in the consulate or outside consulate and it creates lot of stress and tension, which no one wants to have at that point of time.

Always, try to give your answers in few words for most of the questions, except while explaining your role, which again should not be more than 1-2 sentences. Wait for the VO to ask followup questions if they have any,relating to that.

Me : GM officer
VO : GM. Please give me your passport and visa related papers. He looked at the passport and said he will cancel my existing visa. Don't be panic, as it's the normal process to cancel the existing visa stamping, before reviewing and approving the extension or new visa.

VO : Are you applying for Specialized skill visa ( L1B) or Multinational Executive or Managerial Visa (L1A) category.
Me: Managerial Visa. It's another way to ask your visa category.

VO: How long you are with the current company?
Me : 5 Years

VO: How many reportees you have?
Me : 6 Direct reportees and no indirect reportees.

VO: Whom do you report to in USA?
Me : I report to Finance and Operations Director and who in turn report to CFO.

VO: What's your role in USA?
Me : Explained my managerial role in 1 sentence. Please ensure to answer this in maximum of 1-2 sentences, not more that.

VO: What's your Salary in USA?
Me : YYYY X

The officer looked at my details in the computer and informed me that my visa has been approved. I was very happy to hear that.

Good luck to all future visa aspirants

Hi, I recently got my L1B Individual visa approved but I am not travelling for 3 years instead I am travelling intermittently. As of now, I am travelling for 3 months.l and since it is a short trip my company is not applying L2 visa for wife.

My wife is working here in India and i want her to call in the US at the end if my trip for travelling. Similary in future if I go for another 6 months I can call her for 1 months.

I want to understand the visa category for my wife. Should we go with L2 or B1/B2.

Hi All,

I got my L1A individual visa approved in Feb'18, I haven't travelled yet, My wife is already pursuing her Master's in same location where my client is located, I went for a dropbox option for my Kid's visa approval and i have received a blue slip with 221 (g) with the following pointers marked.

1.Plesae appear for an interview with a consular officer on any Monday ,Tuesday, Thursday ,or Friday from 10:00 to 11:00AM .Please bring this letter with you to the interview. Do not make a new appointment.
2.Your application is refused for administrative processing,The application will be reconsidered when administrative processing is complete.
3,Other - Attend interview with Parent(S)

Kindly suggest or share your experience.

1. Is there a chance of my visa will be put on hold when i meet the consular.
2.My wife is currently in US on her F1 visa, The same has been mentioned in my DS160 at the time of interview.So shud my wife has to join with me for the interview
3.what is the possibility of cancelling either of our visa.

  

First, very limited space. So, just arrive about 15 mins prior to appointment.

VO: which company do u work for

VO: what is ur role

VO: are previous visas filed by same employer

VO: How long have u been working for this company

VO: do u have an immigration petition filed on ur behalf? If yes, show petition
Observation: VO noted the petition number

No questions to spouse apart from standard question about not having any criminal history.

Overall, it looked like quite a few questions at this location. Unless, you have a clear and strong case it might be difficult to get a visa approval from here. Watched few interviews that we're going tough too.

Otherwise, it's a good experience. Friendly staff and quick process. Passport comes around a week through Canada Post.