L1, L2 Visa

OFC done on 18 FEB 2016 ,

My slot was 3:30 PM but i reached around 2:45 and they allowed people inside and by 3:30 i was done with Bio-metric process

Interview done on 19 FEB 2016.

My slot was 11 AM. Reached 10:30 AM US consulate , after security and verification , i got the token for interview at exactly 11 AM.

VO : Which company do you work for ?
ME : ZZZ

VO : What is your specialization ?
ME : ZZZ

VO: what is salary ?
ME : Total Indian and proposed US salary.

VO : How long you are working for current company.
ME :XX

It was all over in 90 sec. Just be in line with your support letter. and you should be fine.

Hi All,

I have valid L2 visa
I am going to USA for the first time.
I am currently working and not resigned from my company.i m going on leave for 2 months.In this 2 months i will apply for EAD and then resume work in same company in US.So for this thing, do i need to collect any letter from my current company which the immigration officer can ask for at the port of entry.
Please let me know the inputs from experienced persons.

Thank you in advance.

Thanks to everyone. This site was a great help to know the visa process step by step.

Here is my experience
VAC: Just carry your passport, DS160 & appointment confirmation. No need to carry anything. Please make sure all your details matches with passport info

Consulate:
Routine checks to enter consulate and pay the DD(carry 1-2k to cover the currency fluctuations)

Questions:
1. Whats you job title
2. Salary in US
3. working out of Client location?
4. Organization hierarchy in US
5. No of direct reportees

To wife:
Marriage Date

Be confident and go through your I129 properly before attending the interview.

All the best!

Thanks

Thanks to the excellent forum for people to share about their interview experience. Our turn to return it back.
My wife's company had applied for L1A individual petition through premium processing on Jan 25th. By Feb 1st got the approval notice (exactly 5 business days).
My wife will be a functional manager with *no reportees* at all.

VAC
-----------
VAC was pretty straight forward, and there are lot of floor supervisors to help you out. Reach the VAC only 15 mins prior to your appointment.

Consulate interview -
-----------------------------
Our appointment was at 11:00 am, reached the consulate by 10:30am. Since we had two kids (8 and 4 yrs), the process was reasonably expedited.
We were out of the consulate by 11:15am
We were fastracked to the interview counter after finger print verification.

Questions (Precisely 3 to the primary applicant, my wife)
The usual greetings were exchanged at first and then
VO: With the passport, so which company you work for?
My wife: ....

VO:What will be your role in US
my wife: Explained in 5 to 6 crisp bullet points, laced with some key words like budget control, road map planing, delegation to other units. (VO was not distracted at all, and she was patiently listening to my wife)

VO: How long you have been with this company
my wife: 6+ yrs

Then she turned to me -
1. How long you have been married for
2. Which City

Then to my son -
1. Are you excited about moving to US and making new friends?
And to my daughter -
1. are you ready for 14 hrs flight to the US

She approved our visa and completed the formalities in her system accompanied with some casual chit chatting.

Since it was a L1 A individual, our interview was very very straight forward. The officer did not even ask for I-797 paper or the I-129 paper.

Our 2 cents
------------------------------------
I know many people have recommended in this forum and I will also repeat - Ensure good eye contact and be confident. Be ready with precise/ crisp bullet points for your role in the US.

If I can help, please feel free to ask and I will answer based on whatever experience we have gone through and whatever knowledge we have gained.

A big thank you to all of you for taking out time to share your experiences. It was a big help.

My interview was rather unconventional and I was asked just 3 Qs. Anyhow:

OFC appointment:

I attended OFC in Hyderabad and whole process takes 15 minutes if you have everything correct in DS-160. Carry only passport, DS160, and appointment receipt for OFC.

Interview:

I preferred the morning slot. Just leave your cell, watch and even your bag in your hotel as its un-necessary time waste if you carry all those things. Just some money in your pocket is all you need apart from L1 documents.

Check ustaveldocs website for the current $ conversion price and prepare a DD of $500.

After entering you'd be asked to keep I129S and I797 separate.

Now to interview:

VO: What does your company do.
VO: How long with this company.
VO: Will you be paid in US dollars or INR

Then looked at I129S and approved the visa.
Thats it.

However, I did hear other applicants getting all sort of questions mentioned in this forum. Some had to show their org chart and some had to show the company support letter too.

STAY AWAY FROM WORD "SUPPORT" in all of your answers..

OMG I can't express it now. As soon I back to office I am typing this message. Because I learned lot of things from this website.
Required documents for Biometric - DS 160 confirmation page, Passport
Required documents for Interview:
1. DS 160
2. Passport
3. I-797B form
4. I-129S( First four pages)
5. If you applying for L1 blanket then you have a pay $500 as DD if not you don;t have to pay
NOTE: You have to make sure you applied for Blanket or individual.
You have to very confident on two things when comes for an interview:
1. You must know India and U.S organization chart
2. Your current and proposed roles and responsibilities. Not in detail. Short and sweet may be in 5 points.

PRAY GOD. Best of luck.
Here is my email, if any one need help contact me - [email protected]

I got my L1 Blanket approved in Chennai consulate today. This site was very useful for my preparation and it has all information that one need to be ready for the interview.The interview will be complete before you realize anything since it goes on only for few minutes.

Questions asked

+ What is your specialization.
I had a mental block inbetween and paused for 15 secs due to nervousness. VO understood that and I accepted that I am nervous because this is my first time. Took a deep breath and continued from where I left. From there on, no issues.
+ Why are you travelling to the US
I had 6-7 points to say and VO let me complete and verified what I am saying matches with I129S. Make sure to read through I129-S document and match them up what you say because that is what they primarily use to verify.
+ Who will you report to in the US

To my spouse
+ How long you are married
+ How did you meet
+ Where are you going in the US. I answered this since he was asking this looking at his table drawer so wasn't aimed at anyone specifically but he would have meant this for my spouse.

He paused for few moments before stamping then said the Golden words.

If you had answers to all questions in the forum and be able to answer them without any nervousness. Then nothing else can stop you. The least that you can do is have all your answers ready and leave the remaining to almighty.

When you get few seconds in between questions. Chant "Om Vashatkaraya Namah".

Thank you Immihelp team.

Hi All,
Everyone who reads experiences from here should owe theirs back!

So here I'm. First up, my simple logical points.
1. When your company/attorney drafts your I129S, they would be checking with you the current role and new role. Ensure that you are aware of what goes into that or if possible you document it, for that gets printed into your I129S form.
2. Ensure that you reflect that during the interview. The VO in my opinion looks for you to say whatever is there in the form. Nothing more; nothing less.
3. Honesty! That is confidence for you.

Now my experience. I'm 18 years experienced and my current company is my 4th Company and I've completed 13 years with that. We are from Chennai and know possibly all of Chennai and hence the planning was not a problem. Myself, my wife and 2 daughters of age 6 and 2 appeared.

My appointments for VAC interview was at 8:15 AM and at the consulate was for 11:00 AM on the same day.

VAC: Reached VAC at 7:50 AM and joined the queue of 10-12 and was in by 8:00 AM and completed the biometrics by 8:30 AM. No hassles. All that is said about the process and stickers are absolutely valid. Check that before you leave.

VAC to consulate by car is just a 15 mins drive that too because of the diversions that we have, else if we walk it is just 10 mins walk, though not advisable. We had another personal appointment that we finished, went for a quick breakfast near by to the consulate and closed that by 9:30 AM. We were wondering what next to do as it was just 9:35 AM. My brother who kindly volunteered for driving today suggested to try our luck of entering earlier. We just did that and all they check there is the stickers!

So we entered the consulate by 9:50 AM well ahead of our scheduled appointment. May be today was not that busy for the consulate, I thought.
- Go through the security check.
- The folks just after that help a lot. Nothing other than the 3 sets of I129S, first page of I797 and your passports. They help with bundling.
- Enter the consulate. Be strong enough to pull the twin doors. ;)
- Get into the first queue to pay the fraud detection fee. Here I recommend getting the DD done earlier as the cash/card payment takes its own time. The counter was closed for whatever reason and people were waiting until we left the consulate.
- Get into the next queue to validate the biometrics. This is done by American nationals inside the counter and assisted by our nationals sat outside.
- Third queue administered by Indian Nationals to validate the DS160 (I guess).
- Enter the hall which I think over the years has shrunk (I've been into the consulate 3 times earlier and twice rejected, but that does not matter). Was lead to walk past waiting 100 odd people (I got it wrong in terms of not so busy day) to a person who quickly put me on a counter on the side.
- There was one Gentleman who was getting interviewed for L1B. He was pretty senior himself. While he got his approved, I was overhearing things from other counters for it is loud and you can't help listening to what is happening around as it is human tendency. What helped me was my naughty 1st Daughter who was keeping me busy, but I did hear a Lady VO rejecting a lady stating it is not clearly approvable. There was another gentlemen who was kind of fumbling with answering on number of direct and indirect's while I was waiting for my VO to call me who was busy talking to his colleagues inside. Then came our turn and the below is a kind of transcript may not be in the right order.

VO: Please come forward.
VO: Good Morning. How are you?
Me: We are fine. How are you?
VO: Am doing great. Thanks for asking.
While during this, I was giving our passports and the bundled 3 sets of documents.
VO: Thanks you. So you work for ZZZ.
Me: Yes
VO: Have you applied for a Visa before?
Me: Yes. A few times. Note: I have got 2 B1s and one H1B done after my two initial rejections. I did not use my H1B and traveled using my B1 a couple of times. I've requested my H1B to be canceled and it was canceled. All these were told in my DS160.
VO: Not after 2004?
Me: Yeah.
VO: How long do you intend to stay in the US.
Me: 3 years.
VO: What is your Designation?
Me: My current designation is Account Delivery Manager. I think this is all key catch parses. Probably they search for these or know it already. He was typing in vigorous all that I was stating. So make sure these are in your I129S and of course make sure that you stating the truth.
VO: How long have you been with ZZZ.
Me: This is my 14th year.
VO: Wow.
VO: What would your Salary be in the US?
Me: YYYY + Bonus, allowances and Stock.
VO: So you would be working out of your company location?
Me: Yes. City and State.
Typing something...
VO: Who would you be reporting in the US?
Me: My Manager's Manager.
VO: What would his designation be?
Me: Vice President
VO: Who would he report into?
Me: Executive Vice President.
VO: Reading from my I129S, so you would be leading Sales and Delivery. Tell me what you would be doing in Sales (an possibly he did say "and delivery" which I missed)?
Me: Started talking about Sales and my client interactions, workshops and so on..
VO: So it also states about project lifecycle and then I quickly jumped on to talk about delivery as well. Where planning and budgets.
VO: How many people report into you in the US?
This was a bit tricky for me as I do not have anyone, as in no supervisory. I kept it a simple honest answer.
Me: None at this point.
VO: So you will be a functional manager
Me: Yes (Had I been dishonest, I would be caught for sure; I think the catch phrase is functional manager)

Can I have a few questions with your wife? I stepped aside and my wife who was carrying my 2 year old daughter came in front.

VO: What is your marriage date?
Wife: Gave the correct answer.. ;)
VO: How many kids do you have?
Wife: 2
VO: How old are they?
Wife: Answered.

And with that he was typing something and stamping on the 3 sets of DS160.

VO: Congratulations. Your visa is approved and I'll keep one copy of and please hand one to your HR and another keep it with you. Do not leave it in your checking baggage as the entry officer might want to see it. Again was typing something. While my elder one was tapping happily on the microphone. He was not annoyed and I even joked that probably she was expecting a few questions to her. He was joking back stating, oh no, you do not want to go through that!

Handed back the 2 copies and said Have a great.
Me: You too and thanks for your time today!

Got to the hall; Sat and got the documents into the folders that we have. Walked out and people were still waiting to pay the fees via card/cash. We were out by 10:23 AM!

I do not know what VO thought, but to me I think my 14 years in a very reputed IT MNC + Salary + my reporting structure helped.

Key is.
- Preparation! Knowing your petition in and out.
- Honesty! That makes your confident
- Stay relaxed! Because tension is the only thing that can defeat you there!

Most importantly enjoy the process. It really is fun! I would stated it even if I was rejected!

All the best to everyone!

Regards,
Raj.

My L1B Blanket approved last week at Ottawa.

My Questions:
What is your project?
Who is your client?
who is your previous client?
where do you work?
which company you work for?

thats all. VO approved my visa.

I got my passport in three days for pick up.

As usual questions are same as mentioned in this forum.

I belong to 11 AM Appointment but reach at 10 AM itself and they allowed me without checking the appointment details but they verified Passport alone.

You can deposit your mobile phone in same collection box but for that there is a big queue. Better go with your friends and give your belonging to them so that you will avoid standing in that queue.

Please do not bring any sealed envelopes also and even digital watches. Wallets are allowed. There will be security checks and finally you will be taken to the counter where the people used to interview.

Questions to me:
VO: HI
Me: Good Morning Sir!

VO: Good Morning. Your passport pls
VO: your are applying for Individual?

Me: Yes sir.
VO: its L-1A or L-1B?
Me: Its L-1B individual

VO: Where you work for?
ME: I work for xxx in india and xxx in US

VO: Your salary in US?
ME: My annual salary in US is $ xxx

VO: your place of work?
ME: YYYY

VO: Your project?
ME: I just explained two line.

After looking system for few seconds he said "I am approving your visa"

I asked whether you will give any slips and he said No. Since in my blanket rejection they have given some slips but for Individual they collected my passport and said its approved.

My Blanket was rejected Last year October.
And I reapplied as Individual and my petition was approved within 15 days without any RFE. I have applied via premium.
Place where I applied is Vermont.

At most for individual they will approved your petition.
Best wishes to other people who are attending in future.