L1, L2 Visa

Thanks all who helped me here.

03-March-2021 BioMetrics (Hyderabad): Done in 15 mins, went with Wife and 5 years old kid
Make sure you carry kids photo graph below 14 years

04-March-2021 PA(Hyderabad): My PA is @ 11 AM but they allowed me inside at 10 AM, same attended with wife and kid.

VO: Good Morning.
Me: We all greeted her back, and my kid made comment "I cannot see" and see came forward to see my kid.

VO: Can you show bar code stick to passport for scan from glass.
Me: Did all Passports.

VO: What type of Visa.
Me: Answered L1BI extension.

VO: What is your role?
Me: Answered.

VO: Salary?
Me: Answered US Salary.

VO: So working for End customer?
Me: Answered yes.

VO: Turned towards my wife, how long have you been married ?
Wife: Answered.

VO: To my kid, how old are you?
Kid: Answered.

VO: Show me your I797?
Me: Showed from Glass, may be due to covid they are not touching nay docs, just showing from glass, sticking to it and she just ready as a formality not more than 10 seconds.

VO: Show me your Employment confirmation letter?
Me: Did same as above

VO: Show me CoC.
Me : Dis same as above.

VO: When you are planning to travel?
Me: Answered..

Vo: Left finger prints for me and wife

VO: Drop you passports in box infront of her and she collected from other end

VO: Will let you guys know when your Passports are ready to pickup.
We are greeted her and left place.

04 March 2 PM: Admin process
04 March 7 PM Issued for mine alone
05 March: Issued for dependents
08 March: Ready to pickup

Dear All
Any recent experience for L1A individual, please guide n share ur experience

Hi all,

I have a visa appointment at Delhi next week for L 1 A individual (manager ) next week. I have letter from National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and also a letter for national interest exception letter. I will also have my family members with me for L 2

1) what to expect in the interview

2) have their been rejections in recent past ?

3) any other suggestions ?

I have L1A and family has L2A visa stamped on the passport until Dec 2021.
Our Petition Expiry Date (PED) on VISA is May 2019.
We all got an extension approved in 2019, which is expiring in June 2021. (L1 for me and L2 for family)

Due to some family emergency, my family needs to travel to India.

My question is - Do they need to go for VISA stamping? Or they can re-enter into US using existing VISA and copy of my approval notice?

1st of all big thanks to everyone who shared their experiences here, my visa was approved today and here I am paying back to this community by sharing my experience. Hope this helps someone like me in future.

My visa documentation for L1B - blanket petition was completed on April 30th 2020 and before I could book an appointment at Chennai consulate, official announcement stating all consulate offices to be shutdown due to COVID restrictions. To make things worse Trump presidential proclamation for ban of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas in May and then extended in June until Dec 2019. The injunction from Chamber of Commerce (CoC) and Technet org in October came as a partial relief. My company was listed in CoC, hence this relief, however embassies in India still were in closed status.
Came mid-Jan 2021, and there was official announcement on USICS twitter account that US consulates in India will start resuming operations. I saw OFC and consular appointment slots in November 2021 and nothing earlier. With a heavy heart, I proceeded to book them. By mid Feb when checked again, there were dates for March and I rescheduled them.

March 4th ( Chennai VAC ): Biometrics went pretty fine. Had to carry DS-160, Appointment confirmation letter and passport. Ensure your name in passport and DS160 matches exactly ( this includes even a minor space) I had a "space" missing and had to get it corrected at the last moment.
March 5th ( Chennai Consulate) : 0830 appointment slot, reached the location at 8:00 am when they started sending candidates for 0830 slots inside the building
After reaching the VO counter, this is what happened:

VO:
Me:

VO: Good morning
Me: Good morning officer, hope you are having a good day!

VO: Please hand over your Documents and passport
Me: Handed over passport and I-129S copies

VO:Have u been granted L1 visa previously?
Me: No, this is the 1dt time I am applying forL1

VO:What is name of the company you are working? What is the name of the company you are applying in US
Me: YYYY in India. YYYY in US, which is the parent company of ZZZ

VO: What is your designation?
Me: ZZZZ

VO: Do you have your birth certificate ?
Me: No, I dont have it currently , but I have it in my car in the parking area downstairs.

VO:Can you show me your previous paspport?
Me: Provided the old passport

VO: What is your salary in US
Me: YYYY USD plus bonus plus stocks

VO: Can you provide some details of your specialisation
Me: Explained about 4 tools that was build within my department and explained in simple terms. Did give VO any eye contact , was very casually and confidently speaking everything. I had prepared a full 2 pager for this question for the past 1 year : ) When I completed the detail of the 4th tool, she asked me to stop

VO continued to type something on her computer for sometime, some more time. Asked me to sanitize my hand, I did the same
She continued typing again, got up from her chair, continued typing, asked me to sanitize my hand, I did the same once again

She asked me to place my left hand four fingers on the scanner, continued typing for some more time.
She then took the 3 copies of I-129S and took the stamp , adjusted the stamping pad, stamped all 3 copies. From where I stood, I slowly peeked in where she stamped and I saw
the words "Approved" she added the date of visa expiry on the section where she stamped. She kept 1 copy, gave me 2 copies , told the golden words ----- Your visa is approved, here are the 2 copies, give 1 to your HR and one copy show at port of entry when u reach US. You will be informed when your passports will be ready for pickup and handed over the green slip of acknowledgement.

Me: Thank you officer, have a great weekend!

**** **** **** **** ***

My takeaways and learnings from this visa experience:

- Prepare for the best and worst. Put additional full efforts to keep your documentations and job related info ready
-Speak confidently, dont confuse, Speak in layman terms, but ensure your role and job dont highlight anything generic in nature. Specialized knowledge means it should be special. Dont talk about tools or skillsets that are generic which VO can relate to. Best thing to do is talk about company internal tools u work on, those will never be generic
-I had a 3 pager document that i prepared for my job duties and specialty tools, I used to read this for a full week prior to my interview to ensure I am confident and dont fumble when i speak
- 3 Key questions
1) What is your job duties and responsibilities? ( I had this ready, but VO never asked me this )
2) What is your specialisation ?
3) Why cannot it be done from India ? ( I had this ready, but VO never asked me this )

Hi All,
I have attended the visa interview on 26th Feb -2021 for L1 b individual premium. The interview went well and visa officer just asked general questions like who is ur employer, where will u stay in us ?, What is designation? etc.. and then the visa officer asked to kept my passport in the passport box after interview completed.
It's been 2 working days since my visa interview finished so I tracked my passport status in the U.S non immigrant portal where my application id showing as 'Refused'. Below are the total comments mentioned in the US portall.
"

A U.S. consular officer has adjudicated and refused your visa application. Please follow any instructions provided by the consular officer. If you were informed by the consular officer that your case was refused for administrative processing, your case will remain refused while undergoing such processing. You will receive another adjudication once such processing is complete. Please be advised that the processing time varies and that you will be contacted if additional information is needed. For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV or the website for the Embassy or Consulate at which you made your visa application.
For more information, please visit U.S. Consulate General"

If anyone has faced this type of situation then please let me know what are the next steps?

Hello All,

I am looking for scheduling appointment for my L1B application. My company had filed the blanket petition for L1B in Mid 2019. I have few questions

1. Are the L1B applications and interviews scheduled in Mumbai Consulate as well now? Earlier it was only Chennai.
2. Do I need to fill DS-160 to check the appointment schedule? Or is there a way where I can see available slots before?
3. Can we schedule an appointment for interview about 4-5 months later?
4. After Trump regime and Biden in office now, overall how is the rejection rate for L1B?

Would appreciate if I get the answers.

Thanks,

GSM

Hello All,

We are in a difficult situation and need your help! Me and my spouse are L-1B and L2 visa holder currently in the US.

Can someone please help answer the below questions:
1. What is the Grace period for L-1B and L2 visa
2. If L-1B visa holder loses the job, until when can L2 EAD holder can continue to work?

Thank you in advance for your time!

Hi All,

 I have a valid L1A visa (Stamped on Feb 13 2020) and am currently in India. Visa appointments for my dependents (on April 7 2020) got cancelled due to pandemic situation.
 I heard visa appointments are opening up across consulates. I am trying to book an appointment for my wife and daughter. But my employer says that consulates are still not open and they will book an appointment once consulates are open for regular operations.

 Have anyone been able to schedule appointment on Feb or March 2021?

Thanks

Hello All,

This forum has been my one stop for any question i every had, I have literally checked it everyday since last year and half. So i want to thank all the members.
My road to getting the Visa has been long and hard, so wanted to share the whole experience.

- My L1B-Blanket was rejected in Aug,19 under the "Not clearly approvable" clause.
- Filed for L1B-Individual with same support letters as Blanket in Sept,19 under premium processing.
- Got an RFE within 15 Days, Sent new support letters and the evidences of white papers written by me and replied to the RFE in Dec,19.
- Dec,19 end my L1B-Individual got rejected and the explanation was not enough specialized knowledge.
- Law firm told my manager to try got H1B, or try L1B for a different role after one year. But I knew I had alot of extra evidences which i can provide to them to prove my specialized knowledge.
- Convinced my manager (given that this can cost the company about 5k-10k USD) to ask the Law firm to go with Motion To Reconsider, given the low chances of decision reversal.
- Worked with an amazing person at the law firm (not the same people who files my individual and rfe) to collect all the evidences, I provided literally everything I could - Appreciation Emails, Evidences of Tools that i created, Evidences of projects that i was heading, List of bugs filed/fixed, Global Awards Won, Articles Published, PPTs and Bootcamps that i created, Connected Recognition received internally. (Provide all of this if you guys are in a similar situation, I would suggest provide all of these even for RFE, it was my first time and i relied on what the law firm said this was my mistake, just provide them everything make sure that they send it along. They wont take the pain to ensure your application stands out nor to they have the technical knowledge to do that, it can only be done by you).
- Mid Jan,20 we filed the MTR, along with all the above evidences, very strong support letters and market research.
- Mar,20 the case was approved by USCIS and the initial decision of rejection was over turned. (But embassies closed due to COVID)
- 12th Feb,21 I finally got my Visa appointment at Delhi Embassy.

Interview Exp:
ME: Good Morning.
VO: A very good morning, can i have your passport please.
ME: Sure, handed over the passport and the i797. Kept the CoC/Technet letter ready to slip in when VO asks me Company related questions.
VO: So you are here for your L1-Individual A right?
ME: No, I am here for my L1B-Individual.
VO: Oh sorry, okay. (Opens something on the system and starts reading)
VO: And how long have you been with Company XYZ?
ME: 4.5 Years.
VO: Shakes her head, and starts typing something.
VO: Please place your left 4 fingers on the scanner. (Keeps the passport in the pile behind her)
VO: Your Visas approved, Thank you. (returns my i797)
Me: Thank you so much.

While walking out, I was thinking to myself that VO did say approved right, and not refused :P

Post this the status of my visa was showing Admin Processing from 12th (which is normal, it shows that for 3 days), and got updated today to Issued on 16th.

So, it has been a very very long road leading to this and I have researched so much in the process, if you think I can be of any help to anyone of you I would be happy to help out :) This is a Ask me anything post, you can comment here and I'll answer it to be best of knowledge.

I hope the whole exp helps you out, if anyone of you gets an RFE be sure to include all those above mentioned evidences in there itself. The law firm may not ask for all of it, but be sure to make them add of all that in your RFE response. I learnt this the hard way.

As per the perpetration for Visa Interview questions be it any L1 visa you have to be prepared for 3 main questions:
- Q. What are your Roles and Responsibilities?
- Q. What is your specialised knowledge?
- Q. Why cant it be done from India?
Dont be too short with your answers and dont read a whole para either, make sure you get your point across because this is your only chance. Use muggle words wherever possible because the VOs are not technical and a lot of times may not understand some of the terms.

As for the documents, people getting an interview right now ensure that you carry your Technet/CoC letter because the PP is still in play right now. Once the PP is over post 31st March you dont need to have that.

The process at times can seem unfair and frustrating, because you'll see people with exact same skillset getting approved. But just keep at it, keep fighting and questioning there decision if you think you have enough to prove them wrong. Most importantly dont loose hope. I do really hope that everyone early waiting for there visas are able to get them asap and I do wish you well.

Thank You.