L1, L2 Visa

Hi All, Thanks a lot for all the help got from this forum. I appeared for the L-1B visa interview at US consulate Chennai on 25nd October @11.00 AM and My visa got approved and following questions were asked to us.

1. For which client you are going to work?
2. What will be your US salary?
3. What is your specialization?
4. How you became expert in this tool?
5. Have you implementaed this tool for any other client?
6. This Tool is based on which technology?
7. Can please explain the workfolw of tool.

And Finaly he smiled and said 'Its approved'.

OFC :

On 24-10-13

Just taken the fingertips and validated the passport & DS160 thats all.

Consulate :

On 25-10-13 for L1A

After the general talks :

VO : Which organization your from ? Answered
VO : Who is your client ? Answered
VO : Did you visit US before ? Answered
VO : Why your travelling to US? Answered
VO : What is your role in this travel (in this project)? Answered
VO : What is your Indian Salary? Answered
VO : What is your US Salary? Answered
VO : Gave one copy of document and said it is your's and your visa is through.

Just said Thanks and Have a Nice Day...!!!

Hi All,
I have my L1B Visa Interview on 1st Nov 2013,

I need two Info's :

1. There was a Typo in Word Esperience Section of DS 160 , So i called the chennai consulate's call center and they said to file a new DS 160 and carry it along with the old one and let the VO know abt this ... will it be fine ?

2. There was a typo in I 129 S in "Job Titile and Detail Experience " Section , Thereis a small typo of only one alphabet by the Petitioner , They Typed " fox " instead of fix , i requested the multiple times but they did not change it , My question is .. isit fine to go ahead with the same I 129 application or should i call the consulate again or this ??

I will really be Thankful fro any kind of advise/suggestion ..

Thanks

Yogesh

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for all the help got from this forum. I appeared for the L-1B visa interview at US consulate Chennai on 22nd October (Monday) @7.30 AM along with wife and 1 year old daughter. Our visa got approved and following questions were asked to us.

These were the questions for me:
1. Which company you work for?
2. What is your current designation in India?
3. What is your salary (Indian)?
4. How long you will be there in US?
5. Which place in US?
6. Have you visited US earlier? What was the purpose of your visit?
7. As you are applying for the L-1B category, it requires specialized knowledge. So tell me what is your specialized knowledge?
a. They did interrupted me in between and cross questioned on whether you developed it or not? And how long did you worked on it (on a particular project)?
b. He also asked why don’t your colleagues in US do it? why you need to go there?

Question to wife:
1. When did you get married to this guy?
2. What is your kid name?
3. What is her birth date?
4. What will you do in US?

I guess we should get prepared to answer these 3 important questions as questions seem to be always related to these lines only.
1. What do you do now? (Current job duties)
2. What will you do in US? (Future Job duties in US)
3. What is your specialization?

Regards,
Subhash

Hi Friends,

Can you please help me with the format/do's and Dont's to keep in mind while preparing the Specialized Skill document for L1B Individual Visa.My company is filing L1b visa for me and I am the first one in recent times to be filed for L1B.
I ma really worried keeping in mind the rejection rate of the Visa.

.It would be really great if someone can share the document.

Thanks in advance!!!!

I appeared at the chennai consulate on 18th of October and got my L1A Approved . I had both my kids with me.

Fingerprinting at OFC - My appointment time was at 4:00 PM and I did the BIG mistake of reaching early. I ws there at the place by around 3:15, and had to wait in the scorching sun along with my two kids for 45 minutes. So people, DO NOT GO TOO EARLY. no point in it. You will just have to wait in the queue. I had my appointment confirmation letter and the DS -160s handy. Rest, the procedure got over quickly.
People with children below 7 years, please carry a photo of your child.

PA at Consulate:
My appointment was at 7:30 AM in the morning. This is not my first time here, so I was fairly familiar with the procedures and knew what to expect. Please do not take any unnecessary bags/USBs/CDs etc .
Just take your docs and minimum supplies for kids .Take them in a transparent cover .They do not allow hand bags/backpacks/laptop bags etc.

The conversation with the VO went like this:

1) Which company do you work for?
I told him the name of the company.

2)What would be your role ?
Explained in detail

3) Can I see your organization chart please?
Since I had my organizationa lchart printout with me, I took a copy and passed it over to him
He made me go through the whole chart and asked me in detail about who does what.

4) Indian salary?
14 lacs per annum

5) Us Salary?
65000$ per annum

6) How long do you intend to stay in the US?
3 years.

After this, he told me that my VISA has been approved.

I was not jittery or nervous there, because i had read all the questions from this forum and I had also practiced my answers quite a few times. I think key to getting the visa is being cool and confident.

Thanks to this forum for all the support.

Hi All

Both our Visa's L1 and L2 got approved 4 days back.

I am really thankful to this site and each one of you who posted your experiences.
It helped us a lot during our Visa preparation:)

I wanted to share our interview experiences and the doubts which we had during the entire visa process.
I will go step by step and hope that this might be helpful to all of you.

1) Documentation Part:- This is very important because, if you get your paper work right, your chances
   of cracking the interview become very high. They generally refer to the DS-160 and Role/Duties mentioned in I-129S.
-> Fill DS -160 very carefully.
-> Attorney generally asks you details related to your Role, Job/Duties and Specialized knowledge before consolidating all of this into a Justification letter which is then provided to you to present before the VO.

Please research well(try to write your duties in a generic way) and be careful while sending him this information.
As he just consolidates your details ,it is you who has to provide convincing material for him to prepare a strong petition.

2) OFC appointment :-
OFC work is very simple and straight forward.
You just need to carry DS-160 confirmation page, appointment letter and passport.
They verify the above documents so fill your data carefully.
We saw some people running around at the day of the OFC, as they forgot one of the above documents.

3) Interview:-
Key points for Interview:-
--> Be confident (You will win half the battle if you are confident and calm during those decisive 4-5 mins)
--> Try to prepare all the answers before and practice well. (Prepare for cross questioning, Create some questions from your own answers and be ready with their justification)
--> What we felt after our interview was that :-
Your Company name, US salary and the Clients your are serving are very important.
Also it is a plus point if you are working for a proprietary solution or product of your company.
People with kids and wife have a better chance of getting a visa.

Finally coming to our Interview:-
VO:- How are your sir?
Ans:- Good Morning Sir. I am doing good. How are you?

VO - Good Thanks!!
VO:- Which company do you work for?
Ans:- Told the company name.

VO:- How many years with current organization?
Ans:- Told 1 years & 4 months( be exact)

VO:- Tell me you Designation\Position in India and US?
Ans:- Mentioned the same.

VO:- What is you India and US salary?
Ans:- Told him " X lakhs annually which comes to around Y monthly." for India. Specified the U.S salary in the same way(in Dollars offcourse).

VO:- What is your specialized skill?
Ans:- Answered him in 3-4 lines. VO was constantly looking at him while he was answering this question "

VO:- He then asked if you developed the solution?
Ans:- My husband had prepared a good justification for this which proved the importance of his work in his project.

VO:- He asked , If you have sold this solution in the market?
Ans:- This was the magical question, as my husband told VO about the market value of the solution. Mentioned 6 Major clients in US and 4 in Australia.
He was very impressed after listening to all the client names and I knew he was going to approve visa.

After answering this question, he asked my husband to step aside and then asked me to come forward.
VO:- From when are you both married?
Me:- It's been X years and Y months

VO:- What is your highest qualification?
Me:- I said BE. in Computer Science.

(Internally I knew that, only if he was ok to approve the L1 visa ,would he ask questions to me so, I was already very happy :P)

In a matter of a few seconds....He said I am approving visa for both of you :):)

All the best and prepare well!!
Thanks

Hi Folks,

Thanks for sharing all your experiences on this forum. It helped me a lot to get mentally prepared for the big day.

I had my L1B Blanket visa interview in Chennai on the 10th. These are the questions that were put to me by the VO.

1. Hello, how are you ?
2. You work for xxx company ?
3. What is your designation ?
4. What is your indian salary ?
5. How long have you been working for this company ?
6. What is your salary in the US ?
7. Who is client in the US ?
8. What is your location of employment in the US ?
9. For how long are you going ?
10. What is your specialization ?
11. Is your company a product company ?

to my wife
1. How long have you been married ?
2. What is your highest qualification ?

"Sir, your visa is approved". He hands over me the documents and keeps the passports. We both thank him and leave.

It went much smoothly than i had anticipated. The VO did not even care to look at my I-129S or my petition, which was strange.
So i think they rely a lot on the information provided in the DS-160. So please spend some time in filing that up correctly. Also put in some time and effort to answer the "describe your duties in brief" section of the form. It is important that you put in your specialization there . I had changed my DS160 at the very last moment, since i had put some very generic lines there earlier.

Also it is my personal opinion that the company that you work for, your salary in the US and the period you have spend working in the current company matters a lot, specially for the L1B blanket visas.

Give it your best. Good Luck !!

Hello,

First of all, let me thank you all the folks who've shared their experiences here, which helped me understand what to expect during the visa and PA process and prepare accrodingly.
I had both the OFC and PA scheduled the same day. I was in complete formals with tie and a blazer. Folks appying for L1A - Managerial visa, pls wear a tie and a blazer if you're comfortable. Atleast wear a tie!

OFC @ 8 AM - Went there 20 mins early and joined the queue, however people with 8 AM appointments were asked to come forward and was done with entire process in 15 mins. Pls ensure to get your DS 160 confirmation stamped here, which you'd need to produce at the consulate.

PA @ 10 AM - Reached there some 30 mins early to join a large crowd. But again people were asked to form queues as per appointment and let in. After secuity, finger print verification and DD submission, finally the time for PA.

PA Experience -

Me: Good Morning, how are you doing?
VO: Good Morning. thanks, I'm fine.

VO: So you work for YYYY (Looking at my badge)
Me: Yes

VO: Who'se your customer in the US?
ME: ZZZ

VO: What's your role there?
Me: Program Manager for YYYY portfolio of projects

VO: How many people reporting to you there?
Me: Total of 6, out of which 4 direct and 2 indirect

VO: What are their designations?
Me: They're all project managers, Enterprise architects and supervisors.

VO: Based on your role, this no. of reportees look little less?
Me: I've a total of 50+ reportees spread across US, UK and India

VO: You've a team in the UK as well and were you managing them earlier?
Me: Yes, as the same customer is present in UK geography as well, I've a large team set up in the UK and was managing them so far. Also I plan to hire folks in ths US for the new set of projects that I'd be initiating there.

VO: Whats your salary in India?
Me: YYYY

VO: What will they be paying you in the US?
Me: YYYY

After this he smiled and said 'Its approved'.
Remember to keep smiling even though the entire process is tiresome and lengthy. Keep calm, listen carefully to what VO is saying and answer with a smile..

All the Best!

hi all, thanks for sharing all your experiences.
my L1b individual was approved today at chennai.

i think once individual petition is approved, visa interview is just a formality.
however, i am from non IT background and the consulate officer just asked me 2 qs before approving
my visa -
you work for XYZ company? - yes
what is your highest education qualification?
what is ur US salary?

your visa is approved, u ll get an sms when the passport is dispatched..
thank you from both sides :) ... and done!!!!!!!!!