L1, L2 Visa

Hi Guys.
Time for me to share few things with the forum.
My L1 B Blanket Visa got approved from Chennai US Consulate on May 01, 2017

About me:
- I have almost 12 years of experience in YYYY domain.
- Company filed my L1 B under the Blanket petition and I have just completed 2 years with the firm

OFC Process: In Mumbai VFS, time slot 9 AM, 28th April.
Went pretty smooth, took 30 mins and the complete process got over as directed by the VFS people.

Interview Process: Chennai, timeslot 10 AM, 1 May
• Landed Chennai on 30th April and reached hotel.
• Reached US consulate at 9:15 am from hotel 01 May 1, 2017. No need to go early, you will be waiting in the sun. Instead be at your hotel/ home and use the time to prepare.
• Fairly decent movement through queues, hot and humid day. If you have a family you are lucky to skip queues.
• Initial security checking, nothing allowed except documents and some money, I kept everything else at the hotel to avoid any tension.
• One guy asked to arrange the documents, I129S, DD, first page of I197, DS160 Confirmation and passport. Had to wait since there was only one attendant and he was directing other applicants as well with B1 (lots of applications that day) H1 and L1 Individuals.
• Multiple ticks on the passport (on the sticker pasted on during OFC) all through the queue movements don’t know why.
• Then came the DD’s turn to be deposited at one counter and gave me two receipts.
• Directed to another window where they checked the passport (again!) and directed for fingerprint (again!!)
• Asked to stand in the final queue and waiting for a VO. I intentionally did not notice how others are answering, what is happening to their Visa process or anything kept focusing on my preparing and praying to almighty god.
• Questions asked:
1. Why are you going to the US?
2. What is your name?
3. While looking at the petition, you work for?
4. What is your specialization?
5. Will you be working for Client?
6. What is the duration of your stay?

• Visa got approved, handed me over two copies of I129S, kept one and the Passport.
• I happily left consulate and departed for Mumbai

My Takeaways and recommendation:
1. Prepare well for your interview. Browse through initial pages of this forum and you will get a sense of what can be asked and how to prepare. I prepared very thoroughly since its one big lifetime opportunity and I did not want to miss it anyhow.
2. Go through all the L1B Q&A and skip L1A, as the questions differ by a large margin. I thank the forum for providing this immense knowledge
3. No need to worry about your tenure in the company filed your Visa, you should have an expertise in their proprietary tools and you should have a niche skill. Focus on the latter. I prepared my skill set, multiple iterations and refining it in each during prepartion
4. No interview goes without them asking about your specialization, make sure you prepare that very very properly and makes you stand out from the crowd. Should be a mixed bag of technical and non-technical so that Visa Officer can understand.
5. Be confident, try not to fumble, make an eye contact and keep smiling – these are all the keys
6. Try to avoid putting client’s name while you are framing your answers, this is for intracompany transfer strictly. Working from Client location can land you up in a different visa category (H1B) and chances are you application getting rejected. For L1 B there is no LCA required and is abused where the client dictates the roles while on L1.

People say its luck that you get a US visa, but I would say for luck to be in your favor you need to work towards it and this Visa requires preparation and that’s what I did.

Best of Luck guys and in case you need help please reply to this thread, I will be glad to answer

-

Visa was approved on 03/15/2016 at Chennai Consulate

Sorry for posting late, some questions may help somebody. Have to say this forum helps in all the ways. It made me understand the entire process and reading the experiences will enable you to prepare well.

My appointment was at 9:00 am , I was along with my wife and my son (5 month old) we reached there around 8:30am.

Must say, security personal and all the employees inside are so very helpful. At the first counter one of the lady helped us to arrange and segregate all the documents in proper order, like DS-160, I-129 and I-797 in to 3 sets. They were bundled into 3 sets and given back to me.

As we were with infant , we were given priority and they let us cut the big queue.

Please note: You have to carry photographs (Visa preferred size) for the infant.

Interview:

VO: Good morning
Me: Good morning, how are you doing today

VO: Very good, how about you guys.
Me: We are doing great. Thank you.

VO: With a smile on her face, may I see the baby
Me: Yeah, he just slept (He was with me in Kangaroo Bag)

VO: Thats so nice, its so hot outside
Me: Yes, we are lucky today :)

VO: So you are applying for L1 Blanket Visa
Me: Yes thats correct

VO: Which company you work for and when was it established
Me: Answered. (Make sure you read some details about our company)

VO: What is your specialization
Me: My specialization is on the application which I have built and is our propriety work flow and system.

VO: What does this application do ? Explain such that I can understand
Me: Slowly , I explained what the application does in layman terms and also explained why this is so unique

VO: What was your contribution in this application
Me: I was involved in architectural design and development of this application. And I have built all the core components of this application

VO: How much will be your salary in US
Me: YYYY XX

VO: How long you are going to stay in US
Me: 3 Years

VO: Asked my wife - What is your highest degree of qualification
Wife: Masters in Business Administration

VO: How old is your baby ?
Wife: He is 5 months old

VO: She was entering some data into the system and then the golden words “You guys have wonderful time in the US”
Me&Wife: Said thanks

VO: Gave us 2 copies of stamped papers and asked us to carry in cabin bag so that it can be given at immigration

Such a great experience it was. VO made us very comfortable right from the beginning.

Suggestions:
1. Prepare well, know whats been written in your I129
2. Talk slowly and clearly , no need to rush
3. Prepare list of questions and try practicing them in front of mirror or ask someone for mock interview
4. Be honest and confident
5. Gentle smile on face, greet and maintain eye contact with VO

All the very best !!!

I have scanned through this forum (almost 500+ pages) to prepare my L1B interview.

Interview:
VO: which company you work for?
Me: YYYY Company which offers YYY Product for zzz+ clients all around the world.

VO: How many years with this company?
Me: X yrs & Y mnths as full time and z+ months of internship in same company

VO: Are you going to work in client location?
Me: NO. I am going to Parent company which is our head quarters.

VO: How much is your salary?
Me: YYYY dollars + standard company benefits like shares,transports, lunch+etc

VO: Immediately asked, where is this company in US?
Me: YYYY city, YYY state. ( Just to prolong interview , I have started saying I have been there couple of times on my B1 Visa and is a lovely city and people there are amazing. My family(wife&kid) will enjoy next couple of years)

VO: Smiled and said HI to my 11months kid.
My Kid: Smiled back and turned his face immediately towards me (very shy)

VO: what is your specialization
Me: My specialization is on the application which I have built and is our proprietary system. Which offers ................ services and using this tool ............... helps reduces the production maintenance time. (Prepare well based on what i specified in I129S)

VO: What are the languages used to developed this
Me: Multiple languages(xx,yy,zz), each language for its corresponding product and the reason is we wanted one tool to do the job for all our products and the core framework is designed using AA language.

VO: How long you are going to US
Me: 3 yrs

VO: with big eyes opened, How long?
Me: with smile again said 3yrs

VO: Can you elaborate more your specialized skill
Me: Explained in lay man terms and elaborated him with an example

VO: To my wife: Are you going to work?
My Wife: NO

VO: how old is your kid?
Me: 11 months

VO: Give me couple of mins... he was typing in his system for couple of mins....

Finally Golden words.. Your visa is approved sir. Me & My wife said thanks.

VO: give me couple of mins.. I need to stamp your papers... finally gave 2 sets of stamped papers.

Suggestions: Speak loudly and say to the point what VO asks. Answer confidently and use simple lay man terms when it comes to specialization.

I landed in Chennai on 30th Mar and my visa interview was scheduled for next day(31st Mar). Entire day I was preparing for my interview and was worried about the next day. Here are some highlights from interview -

VO - Who is your petitioning company?
Me - Answered

VO - How long you’ve been working for current company?
Me - X years

VO - What is your specialised skill?
Me - 3 liner answer highlighting company's proprietary tool.

VO - Is this tool implemented for all of the clients?
Me - No. It is implemented for X clients

VO - How much salary will you get?
Me - $ YYYY on an annual basis. On top of it, company will provide daily travel expenses.

VO - Are you married?
Me - Yes

VO - Will your spouse be accompanying you to the US?
Me - Yes

VO - Where you’ll be working?
Me - I’ll be transferred to parent's company office in US. Based on business need, I might travel to client’s location as well.

Some key take away based on my experience -
1. One should demonstrate their own specialised skill and should drive the discussion demonstrating the features of the tool/produce in contention.
2. Inference out of interview should be - Supervising control of the beneficiary should be with petitioning company and not with client.
3. One should keep a smile, greet and maintain eye contact with VO, otherwise one's credibility will be gone for a toss. In a nutshell, be honest.

Finally after a year long wait, my L1A visa got approved in 28th April. I have been active member on this forum and have pasted so many queries questions to fellow mates. It was tense moments at the consulate cause you have to be 100% prepared else your chances of Visa rejections are higher than your approval chances. Visa officers have to get 100% convinced to get Visa approved.
My interview slot was at 10AM, however due to lot of rush in 9-9:30 AM queues, we had to wait till 11:30AM after which we got chance to get in the consulate. Then inside the consulate you will see long queue similar to how we see in Indian temples such as Balaji or Saibaba temple, while you walk you see different visa officers at different windows throwing questions which you feel like some bullets are hitting your ears and you tend to get nervous all the time. But you should a way to cool yourself down, like I did and when finally I was told that I was next for the interview at window number 28. This was the same officer who was asking so many questions to others and I saw rejecting many people. In fact I had thought in my mind while I was in queue that I should not get this officer for interview, but to my luck I had to face this angry fellow.

1) Walked towards his window and greeted him with "Good After Sir, how are you doing today?"
-- Visa officer was little surprised as so long he was only seeing good morning, so probably he came to know that its time to wrap up for the day :)
2) (Question I was not expecting to be a first question/never thought even when I was preparing. You should keep in mind how you case face a situation you never expected or you wished you should not get one).
What is your role? What will be your role?
-- Started slowly but answered as prepared. This set the tone for the rest of the interview.
3) Where you will travel?
4) Who is your client?
5) What is your salary onsite?
6) Are you married? Do you have wife?
7) Do you have children?
8) Are they not traveling with you?

Finally, I am approving your Visa.

thank you very much Sir!!

Hi All,

It was a great help from this forum. I reached to Chennai on 26th evening. OFC on 27th 12.15 and VISA interview on 28th 9.15 AM. As its been mentioned in earlier post visa process is quite stressful and tiring, specially documentation part.
One thing I would like to mention that I was looking for some guidance over the answers considering my profile is testing and wanted to have mock interviews. I came across Intent Filling online sessions and registered for these sessions. These were really helpful and gave me confidence to answer interview questions. These session gave me idea about - choosing your words carefully and Dos and Don’ts.

I created 2 folders for myself:
Primary which had:
Appointment Letter
All original passport (old + new)
Form DS160 + I797 + G28
Letter from Employer
Company Annual Report

Secondary:
All my education certificates and training certificates
Resume
All experiences letters from my work history
Photograph (which is not needed)

I did not carry DD due to confusion of currency conversion, instead I carried 17*2000 = 34000 INR cash which helped as it was pleasantly accepted and there were no issues for this.

On 27 we had Bio-metric for me and my dependents.

Although it was mentioned at multiple forums smart casuals are OK but I was dressed up in a blazer, thinking that it’s always good to dress-up instead of down as it should not have any negative impact.

On 28 we reached venue at 9:00 AM (15 mins before the scheduled time). We were carrying mobiles with us thinking that there will be lockers provided to keep our belongings. But that was not the case. There are no lockers at VISA interview location, however this facility is available at OFC location. We were not allowed to enter the premised, I called-up my cab and kept mobiles in the cab and moved inside the building. After documentation check and sorting, I paid 34K INR on counter 14 and moved to VISA interview queue. Here it goes:

VO: Good morning Sir!
Me: Very Good Morning Sir

VO: Your passports please
Me: I gave only my passport, my spouse and son were with me

VO: Are these your dependents and will travel with you?
Me: Yes

VO: Please give me all passports?
Me: (*Handed over passport of my son and spouse)

VO: (looking at passport to my spouse) Are you from Rajasthan?
My Spouse: (Smilingly) Yes

VO: (To me) How did you meet?
Me: Through family contacts

VO: What is your product?
Me: Explained

VO: (Asked full form of our product and company)
Me: Answered

VO: Since how long you are working with this company?
Me: (I thought he is asking for my proposed stay in US so I answered 3 years but I realized that there is something wrong so confirmed again) I misunderstood your question, are you asking my stay with company or proposed stay in US?
VO: Since how long you are working with this company?
Me: 6 Years

VO: Why you are travelling to US?
Me: Answered

VO: Where you are going in US?
Me: Answered

VO: Who is using your product?
Me: All leading investment banks

Throughout the interview, VO was typing something, I made sure that my answers are short and to the point. I also made sure I am composed throughout the interview and maintaining eye contact as well as body language.

I found VO a nice pleasant guy, he seems to understood all my answers clearly. But I was not sure what will be final result.

After sometime he said - Your VISA is approved, these are your documents. Have a nice day!!
It was nice experience.

Few points I would like to mention:
Do not worry about DD, cash and cards are acceptable, do not Panic
I think I was working on documents a lot referring to checklist in forum, prepared sets of all documents – ITRs, Pay slips, experience, marriage photographs, wedding invitation cards but none of these were asked to verify. I am not sure if it is really required to carry all these stuff.

Hi All,

I have been to my visa interview yesterday 28/4/2017. I come from a reputed US based MNC. Went through lot of practices and mock and I had a very different experience during my visa. Here is how it was.

Vo: What is your name
Me: Answered my full name
Vo: What is your role in US
Me: Answered my role which was prepared.
Vo: Where will you live in US
Me: Answered the location
Vo: What is your specialization
Me: Answered my specialization
Vo: What’s your salary in US
Me: Answered as per petition. Here she paused for a while
Vo: Have you been to US before?
Me: Answered Yes, on vacation
Vo: How long will you be working for this project?
Me : For five months.

She started typing for two minutes and returned my passport with two copies of my petition stamped ‘Not clearly approvable’ on it and a blue receipt as attached. She continued saying “Your visa petition cannot be clearly approved now. I’m not denying your visa and you are smart so it should not be a problem for you to get the visa pretty soon. Take this stamped petition to your HR to check if this is the right classification and they would let you know what to do”

To be honest it is very much required for me to be present for the work that we are about to loose it if I don't go.

I see different experiences about the blue form that it is not rejected but held for verification. Is this completely rejected? Can anyone assist if you have experienced this? Will they call us back for the verification?? If we go through L1B Individual, how difficult it is to get through? Appreciate your suggestions

I landed in Chennai and my son started complaining of ear ach due to air travel. It was a day before biometric and I was tensed. Luckily I had phone number of my pediatrician and he suggested some ear drop which helped and gave some relief to him. Next day was more tensed as he started vomiting and loose motions. I was busy all the time with him and somehow manage to complete my bio-metric.
 
Entire day I was preparing for my interview and was worried about the next day (27th April) which was the Interview day. Even called Consulate and got to know that children below 18 get an interview waiver. It was not possible for me to leave an eight year old kid alone in hotel. Entire night I was tensed and luck worked, he recovered entirely. Thank god.

We reached consulate 45 minutes before and understand I left my office I-Card in hotel, luckily hotel was 10 minutes’ drive. I called my cab driver he came back and we immediately got the I-Card. They did not checked I-Card anywhere but I didn’t want to take a chance. One of my collogue told me that he was asked to show company I-Card.

Got the card from my hotel room and entered the consulate. They asked us to skip few lines as we had kids with us. That was again a relief… if you are not from Chennai, trust me heat and humidity is a killer.

Done with DD and other things and we were told to go to interview counter at far left. When I was waiting for my turn, an old aged couple’s visa got rejected in adjacent counter and the lady started crying and requesting for approval. I felt bad for the couple and at the same time worried for mine as well (how selfish).

On my counter, visa for the next person got approved and VO asked us to come forward.

And it begins

Me: Good Morning
VO : Good Moring
He waived hand and said hi to my kids but both of them just smiled and didn’t wish him back.

VO : Pass me the passport and other documents please.
VO : Which company you are working for? (I asked twice couldn’t catch what he asked)
Me : Answered

VO : What will be your salary?
ME : xxK per annum. after 10 seconds pause .... ofcoz that will be US Doller

VO : Duration you will stay there ?
ME : 1 year ( as it was mentioned on DS-160 and also told by my HR)

VO : What is your specialized knowledge?
Me : Answered as per petition and as prepared. I have specialized knowledge of company propriety product ABC …………………….

VO : What is ABC Product?
ME : I was prepared for this question but when started answering it, I fumbled and spoke something absolute nonsense. I tried to keep my cool and cut-short my answered and managed to mention important words while answering ( just like you answer in 10 sentence question is answered in one sentence). I maintained eye contact and kept a smile on face just to hide what I **** up.

VO : What will be you doing?
ME : Last question’s pressure on this question and …. What the hake, I did it again… I spoke something nonsense again. For that 2 second I thought I screwed it up and missed the opportunity. Took a pause, smiled, looked at VO and started again. This time, I gave less than half of answer which I prepared but I think VO was convinced.

VO : Are you going to work on any specific client?
Me : No, not for any specific client, I will be working for my parent company which has multiple clients so will not be working on any specific client.

VO : Where are your kids ? (By this time my both kids found chairs and were playing)
Me : There (I pointed towards them), Sorry office, it’s their first time in Chennai and its very hot and humid here so they are getting little cranky.
VO: No problem, I understand.

Question to Spouse:
How long you been married? - xx year
Are you working? - NO
(Asked the same question which I asked her to prepare and she made no mistake. I took a risk by not mentioning that she is not very comfortable with English but that risk pays off)

Then VO started typing something, at the same time humming some song for 1 minute and there were total silence. Then he picked up my forms and stamped it and said

VO : Your Visa has been approved, these are your properties (gave back 2 forms to me) and these are mine (kept one copy and passport with him). Your will get the remaining document in 4-5 working day.

We thanked him twice and left

VO was typing throughout the interview and humming some song.
VO was continuously looking at me while I was answering the descriptive questions. Though, I was aware that I have messed it all but manage to keep the eye contact, smile on face and which I think worked otherwise I had screwed up)

This forum has helped me a lot for preparation. Yes, confidence, smile on face and to the point answer help me to crack the interview.
Hope that helps.

PS : Please keep eye on dollar value as most of the people had come with old $ value Demand draft and they either have to request for refund or paid using credit card.

Hello,

I am looking to apply under L1-A visa for new office in New York or NJ, if anyone has used any attorney and you found them to be good, can you please share the details.

I am taking to one company and found them to be helpful till now, but I am not 100% sure if I should go with them. Has anyone used their services? Any reviews would be much helpful in making my decision.

Thanks everyone in advance.

LONG POST ALERT!
First of all, Thanks to Immihelp for being together as a contributing community to answer questions otherwise difficult to find answers for. I would like to share my experience here below which may add value to what members are looking for

Category: L1A Blanket - Manager/Executive
Organization: Large IT company
Past history: Have had H1B a couple of times over & lived for the entire period of H1 in the US
Last work visa status: Used H1B for full 6 years and left US in early 2016
Time outside US when appearing for THIS interview in London: 1 year 1 month

The procedure:
- Appointment was at 830 AM -- take early morning appointment if possible. It is a pain to join later and go through the cascading effect of tons of folks roaming around. 8 AM is even better
1. Do not carry your laptops, cameras, glass, heavy bags around to the consulate. You would be sent off to one of the few places that have a locker facility nearby. It is difficult to lug around the baggage, lose a place in the line and go to place your bag. Shed it & carry a small light handbag/backpack with the document. Phones, Belts, Watches etc would be asked to be removed and put in a clear plastic bag (like the airports) which they will provide when you are in the line as you pass through a metal detector setup before entering the building

- Entry into the consulate: Get walking round the building to the Visa section entry door where once you are through you would find a reception, (wo)manned by a couple of security folks who will scan your DS160 confirmation page, print a sticker with the token number & paste it on the passport before sending you your way into the main waiting area

- Main waiting area: There is a big display board and sequence of windows in the main hall and then around the sides of the hall that you sit in...obviously there are 10s of nervous people. The volume of people seems to have sizeably increased from when i appeared here for a B1 Visa in the same consulate way back in 2008 (seems like ages ago!!) ??

- Calling out of the numbers: The board makes it clear that you are up next and the window number. In our case since it was a L1 with dependents (L2) we were sent over to a counter specific number = Counter # 12 on the side of the Hallway

- Document check: Now, this counter was handled by a very courteous, professional lady (of asian origin - not that it should matter) who was very friendly in checking the various documents and setting it in order/entering your passport details/verifying it etc. Post which she happily handed over a yellow slip asking me to go ahead & pay $500, 2 counters down which was the cashier place

- Cashier counter (Counter # 10): A simple no-nonsense process of handing over your card and then becoming or making you/your company poorer by $500. A couple of receipts are given and you are asked to go back to Counter # 12

- Back to Counter # 12 and then the game begins: Once you reach the Counter # 12 back, the same courteous lady sees your receipt, scans it in, then hands over the passport(s) with the selected documents back to you asking you to join a line across the counter

- The line: The line again for a London Consulate seemed pretty long…it had over 25 people awaiting to get to the “Interview” windows which were to the backend of the hallway where we originally waited. The waiting time was about 10-15 minutes but felt like AGES!

- The Interview: We were asked to get to a specific counter # which was being covered by a very professional american lady….with a clear north eastern US conversation exchange. The questions started
VO: How are you today
Me: Doing great, how about you?
VO: Not bad….Ma’am How are you today?
Spouse: Oh…doing good, how are you?
VO: ….scanning the pages…so who do you work for?
Me: <<Company Name>>
VO: What to you work there as?
Me: <<Designation>> (Tip: Though it may sound basic, kindly stick to the designation on the petition letter & don’t talk about your role yet!)
VO: What work you do?
Me: I handle…blah blah blah….and manage blah…blah…blah
VO: How long have you been with your present employer?
Me: Just over 4 years, 4 years and a month almost
VO: (Smiles)….Lets keep it at 4 years then!
Me: (Nervous smile back)….whatever sounds good to you! ??
VO: How long have you been in the UK?
Me: Just over a year!
VO: How many people do you currently manage?
Me: XX
VO: How many would you manage there?
Me: YY
VO: Where are you heading to?
Me: <<Name of the place>>
VO: ….checks the paper around, lifts her head-up and sees some additional screens (looks like there are possibly 2 screens or just the way she looked at the screens were different - high & low)….turns to look at my spouse who is standing by my shoulder — “Ma’am how long have you been married?”
Spouse: Thinks…looks at me…looks back at her & says the YEAR! Phew! ?? ?? …..(Tip: Usually it is the men who get struck at these things but i had the last laugh there, hehe!)
VO: …smiles and then turns to me and speaks a few sentences with a SMILE — “Before i approve your visa i want you to go ahead and pay this fees (hands over a yellow slip)”
She continues showing the slip “This is not a small amount — $4500, i hope you are making your company pay for it! ??”
Me: We are taken care of well by our company, fortunately! ??

Spouse moves back to the railing near the counter, i pick the slip and gingerly walk across as if someone is going to give me money…to actually pay the $4500! lol

Counter # 10 it is & this time the no-nonsense lady has a hot chocolate on hand and we end up speaking about how chocolate help calm nerves & even addresses dementia etc while she cooly makes me/my company poorer in a minute or so!! Gives 2 pieces of paper back

I walk back now, relieved at least partly, to the same VO who is fiercely interviewing the next candidate. My spouse & I chill behind that nervous gentleman awaiting our turn. He steps aside after a few minutes and we are both back in front of the VO again

Me: Thanks again. Here is the receipt!
VO: Let me move this file out of the way and pick back yours. (Picks it up saying) Let me go ahead and formally approve it on the system while you are here….(punches around a few keystrokes & then)….
Everything is done! (hands over a small card)…you can track your passport through this link and it should be coming through to you in 3 to 5 days time! Best of luck!!

Me: Thanks a lot again, it was very nice interacting with you.

As other posters have rightly said
a) Stay confident & be prepared throughout the process
b) Carry enough supporting documentation as advised by employer/agent/confirmation letter
c) Think for a second and answer clearly
d) Speak up, the audio that you receive may be slightly worse than what they hear when you speak so keep the voice clear and loud enough
e) Dress decently. A L1 or a H1 is a professional visa so though your outcome would not be decided by what you wear, why cloud someone’s judgement of what you represent!
f) Be patient when the VO is checking things between questions, don’t just pile answers and additional information which may be distracting & add to your nervousness

Best of luck….I think your overall profile will decide the outcome and if your company has chosen you to go through, there is every likelihood that you would come out successful. So stay calm & answer to the point.