L1, L2 Visa

My husbands visa is expired. However his I94 is valid until dec 2014. He has filed for L1A and will get his approved petition papers soon. He plans to travel outside the US only on Dec 2014(I94 expiration date). I want to join him in the US as soon as possible as a dependent. What are my options. Please suggest.

I went for my L1A (Manager) category today at Chennai. I work for a well known software product company and went with family (wife and 2 kids) for the interview. Most of the experience was similar to what everyone on forum here had. The key things that I wanted to highlight:

1. I was fearing one Q and that was asked! How many direct reports in USA will you have? I tried to dodge the question by stating that I will be responsible for 24 engineers and managers who will have dotted line reporting. VO repeated the Q - "How many direct?"

I had to say - None. That was the truth and I had my heart in my mouth. But it did not matter.

2. Second experience worth sharing. VO asked my elder kid of 9 year 2 Qs!
VO to 9 yr old "Who is the other kid". 9yr - "My little sister".

VO to 9yr - "Does she trouble you a lot?". 9Yr - "Sometimes". Thats it.

And then the visa was approved. :)

I could see only " Briefly describe your duties" in DS -160 form. Is this same topic as Specialized skill ? As some members in this forum mentioned that these are same ?

Hi, I am having my L1A visa appointment this week at chennai. As the guidelines state that children below 14 years of age need not appear for the interview, we are not planning to take our daughter for the appointment but carry the requisite documents.
Is this fine or do is it mandatory to take the kid along? Are there chances of the visa getting rejected? Please share your experiences.

Thanks a lot for all the people sharing their experiences in this forum. I have been following this forum for the past 4 months reading all the L Type Visa experiences.

Important points to note before appearing the interview
1. Prepare your DS160 very carefully. The role and responsibilities section is the key and the points that you mention needs to justify the reason to grant visa to you.
2. Collect a set of questions that the Visa Office can ask from this forum and prepare answers and get ready for the interview.

I went with my dependents and OFC and consulate interview was scheduled on the same day.

OFC was at 8 AM and i reached the place 7:45. So had to wait there for 15 mins for the gates to open and then its just 15 Mins of work inside. As my consulate Interview was scheduled for 11:30 AM, i went to my hotel.

My hotel was 8 Kms away from the Consulate. So i left my hotel at 10:30AM to be on the safer side to reach the consulate on time. Fortunately i reached consulate at 10:50 AM. As soon as i reached, i found no one in front of the embassy. Generally there will be people waiting in the Queue for their scheduled interviews and i have experienced that before. This time no one in front of the consulate gate so i was asked to go in immediately. Security check and documents verification and tagging happened quickly and i was asked to do the payment in the Interview building(next block). I did the payment with my corp card and i also saw few writing Cheques and getting the vouchers.

Discussion with the VO.
Me : Good Morning
VO : Good Morning. How are you today?
Me : Iam fine. thanks. How are you?
VO : Me fine. So you work for ***. ( I had my badge. No blazer or tie. Just in plain Business formals)
Me : Yes. I work for ***.
VO : You are applying for L1?
Me : Yes. Iam applying for L1A.
VO : Who is your Client?
Me : *** is my client.
VO : Have you traveled to US before?
Me : Yes. Twice in ** visa and twice ** visa.
VO : How many people are going to report to you in US?
Me : ** people are going to report to me.
VO : How many direct?
Me : ** are direct and ** are indirect.
VO : What is your salary in US?
Me : Told the US salary in USD per annum. (He paused for a Min and did few calculation)
VO : So from which location you are going to work from?
Me : Told the city and state in US.
VO : Its a nice place. I approve your visa. Pls give this copy to your HR and carry another copy with you during the Port of Entry.

Good luck for other how have their interview scheduled.

First of all thanks to this forum. It was of great help. I got my visa approved only because of this forum.
If you are applying for L1A blanket, please go through all posts in this forum regarding L1A blanket.
My assumption is they do some background work before the interview in what you have written in your DS160. DS160 is very important document. Fill it very carefully.

Important sections for L1A Blanket in DS160

1) “Describe your Job Duties”. Mention your managerial tasks there like hiring authority, budget planning, managing certain supervisors, etc. These are important. Sometime we don’t mention these points even if we do these tasks.

2) Role in US – Please remember that L1A blanket is a managerial visa. It’s not for project managers. You should be working at a minimum as Senior Manager and managing certain managers. So you should have direct and indirect subordinates. They definitely ask this in interview. Be prepared for this question. I have gone through all posts and they have asked everyone. If you mention Project Manager, then definitely your case will weaken. I have seen cases of rejection if your role is Project Manager. Doesn’t matter how good you describe during the interview because they come prepared to reject.

My experience:
--------------------
I had biometric and Interview on the same day. 9:00 AM and 12:00 Noon. It’s better to schedule on the same day as biometric hardly takes 5 minutes. After Biometric I came back to hotel by 9:30. Then relaxed at hotel and started at 11 AM. Reached by 11:45 AM. My 2.5 years old son carried a toy which they didn’t allow to take inside. Then my son was crying like anything for next 25 minutes till I completed my interview. I forgot everything I prepared and was concentrating more on my son.
My Dress: Trouser and Shirt. No tie, No coat. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t wear a new shirt or something as I feel more comfortable with what I am using for couple of months. It should be neat and clean.

Questions asked to me:
--------------------------------
Which company do you work for?
How long
Client in US
Who is your manager in US?
What’s your manager’s designation?
US salary
No of subordinates (I said direct as well as indirect)

To my wife:
--------------
What is your husband’s father’s and mother’s name?
How many kids do you have?
What is your husband’s favorite food?

Again to myself:
---------------------
How many years you intend to go? I said 3 years.
He started stamping my papers and said the golden words “Your visa is approved”.

I and my wife appeared together before the visa consulate in Mumbai, for L1B, and her L2 visa interview.
Mine was an individual petition, and as having read about a couple of other cases, once the petition is approved it's only a formality
that is usually completed at the consulate.

Our biometrics and visa interview was scheduled on 2 separate days.
Mumbai interviewees, please note the following locations:
Biometrics ( OFC ) : Ask the auto-rickshaw driver to ferry you to the 'Trade Centre' in front of 'MTNL'. Both of us had to spend 20 minutes walking in the
scorching Mumbai heat to locate this centre.

Visa Interview (Consulate): Ask the auto-rickshaw driver to ferry you to the visa centre which is near Trident Hotel in BKC. Once you are
at Trident, you can ask anyone for the directions to the consulate. It is just a stone's throw from there.

Here was how the conversation went at consulate before the VO approved my visa...

VO: Good morning sir
Myself: Good morning

VO: Have you come alone, or is there another application along with yours?
Myself: Yes, I have my wife with me, who is applying for the dependent visa.

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

VO: How long have you been working there?
Myself: 3 years 4 months

VO: What is the salary that you would be drawing in the US?
Myself: $xxx

VO: What does your company do?
Myself: Explained in a couple of lines what my S/W development company does.

VO: How long have you been married for?
Myself: xxx years

VO: Do you have guys have kids?
Myself: No

VO: Your visa is approved. You would receive it in 4-5 days.

No questions were asked to my wife - we had prepared for it since she is working in IT field too, and we were expecting questions like
what would you do in the US? Why are you leaving your job and going to the US ? etc

Thanks ImmiHelp, the experiences people have shared here definitely helped us loosen our nerves, and know that L1 individual petition
visa interviews are more of a formality than anything else.

I attended the L1B Blanket interview at Chennai this week and got it approved. I have read quite a lot of experiences of people who have attended the interview from this site and it helped me in many ways. Here is my experience. Hope it helps.

I had my OFC at 9 a.m and consulate interview at 11.30 a.m. Reached the OFC by around 8.30. Waited for some time there before the security asked the 9 a.m slot candidates to enter the OFC. It didn't took more than 5 mins for the entire process to finish. By 9 a.m I was free. Since I didn't wanted to go back hotel and then come back again to consulate, I went directly to consulate and reached there by 9.30. At the consulate entrance I asked the security is it possible to go for the interview now. He asked me why are you too early. I told him that my OFC was at 9 and I didn't wanted to go back hotel and then come back at 11.30. He smiled and allowed me to enter the consulate. There are no appointment time checks done at the consulate. So make sure you ask them if it is possible to enter the consulate even though you are way early than your appointment time. There is high chance that they allow you to enter.

Inside the consulate the first process is security check. Make sure you don't carry your mobile phone, pen drive, CDs or any other electronic devices to the consulate. There are no provision to keep those things there. Also don't carry bags. Just carry the required documents in a folder. Make sure you don't have any sealed envelops. If there are, they will ask you to got out, open them and come back. So make sure all your envelops are opened. After the security check, an officer will approach you and get your documents. He will sort those and give you back only the required documents which needs to be presented to the VO at the time of interview. Next you will be guided to a counter where your finger prints and passport will be scanned again. This is to cross check your fingerprints and passport details you provided at the OFC. If you are carrying the visa processing fee receipts or DD from your company, well and good. Other wise you will be directed to the next counter where you will have to make payment using your AMEX card. In the next counter you will get the token number slip and it will be pasted on the top of your passport. You go to the lounge and wait for the inevitable. Your turn !!

Once your token appears on the screen, you need to go to the respective counter. There may be 2 or 3 candidates before you on the same counter. Wait for your turn. Don't concentrate more on what candidates before you speak. Don't get tensed if they gets rejected. Always be focused and don't loose your concentration. When your turn comes, go to the counter. Next is very important. Wish the VO with a pleasant face and confident voice. If they wish you first, wish them back. Your first impression is really important. They can judge you good or bad the very first 10 seconds itself. As far as my experience is considered I made a good first impression. She started her interview

VO : Which company you work for
Me: X company

vO: How long you are working for X company
ME: X years and Y months

VO: Who is your client
ME: X company

VO: Where are they located
Me: X City in Y State

VO: Whats your specialization
ME: Started explaining and in 30 seconds, she interrupted me saying "Your visa is Approvable."

VO: I am keeping one copy of your I797. Give one to your HR and carry one at the time your travel to US.
ME: Sure Mam.

VO: All the best.
ME: Thank you Mam.

VO: Good day
ME: You too mam.

Tips : Be confident and maintain a positive body language. Speak loud and clear. This is all you need to do at the time of interview. Rest all is your luck.

If you are a believer of God, I would say pray well. This is all you could do. Rest all leave it to GOD.

All the best !!

Hi Guys,

I had been following these posts for some time and there were no rejections posted recently which gave me some confidence but I am posting this because I want you guys to be well prepared. Today I attended the interview and my visa was denied stating that it was not clearly approvable. The main reason was that my tool was integrated with the client's application. He asked me a question regarding the functionality of the tool and if it was used with the client data and I after I conformed the same, he said that it is not clearly approvable.

 If you guys are applying for L1, please make sure your case has evidence to state that it was your company's tool/product and that the specialized skill that you possess could not be gained else where. So if your are working for a client, have a good justification that sets it apart from the client like a product or something.

All the best!!

Hello folks,

I appeared for my L1B Blanket visa on 6th November but couldn't get the visa. I am sharing my interview experience , don't know what went wrong.

VO: Good afternoon
Me: Good afternoon.
VO: So you are working with YYYY company ?
Me: Yes sir
VO: Are you going to work at a client location?
Me: Yes sir
VO: Who is your client ?
Me: My client is ZZZ
VO: What is your designation ?
Me: I am Group leader and I am leading a team of software developers for the YYYY project.
VO: What is your indian salary ?
Me: YYYY
VO: What would be US salary ?
Me: YYY

Then he had a very quick glance at the covering letter but dont think he read it all the way he was always typing and looking at the data on his screen.

VO: You understand that this visa category requires specialized skill set . Can you explain that ?
Me: Describe the product and experience I had working with it and responsibilites required for it in about 4-5 lines.

He again started typing more stuff and finally said that you need to talk to HR to file under a different visa category. He is not approving this application. Me and my wife said thank you and left.

There were another VO on a different counter where I observed that he asked more questions to a guy and went in real details by asking further questions till he understood the specialized skill and then once he understood it clearly he approved his petition. So I guess there is a luck factor involved also.

I am thinking of applying for talking to my company for L1 individual.
Is there any difference in fees compared to L1 blanket ?
What are the chances of visa if one applies under L1 individual ?