L1, L2 Visa

Hi,
Next week i'm appearing for L1A interview but was not sure how to prepare my self. Meaning what kind of questions will be asked or answers were expected.

Can anyone guide me on this if possible.

Thanks,
Veloo Pushparaaj

I have attended L1-B Visa interview today at Chennai. I would like to share my experience:

OFC was done two days ago. It is located near Apollo cancer hospital, cenotaph road; not at the US embassy anna salai.
OFC process was simple: They take Photograph & Finger prints;
Documents required : appointment letter, fee receipt, DS-160 and pass ports (Better to have passport size photos as well, mandatory for infants)

Visa security experience was not a happy event for me.
I have not taken any electronic gadget, storage device. I had only one leather office bag to carry the certificates. They didn’t allow that to inside. I had to rush to the depositing counter as the appointment time was nearly crossed. They allow baby food but one needs to taste all before permitting inside.

Document collection & Fee payment:
They took I-129S and I-797 forms prepared by my office team. DD of 500$ for fraud detection (US Consulate General Chennai, payable at Chennai)
I had carried other educational & experience letters, marriage and birth certificates … Those were not asked. (Though I recommend others to carry those)

Interview: (This is the only counter where you find native American people, rest all counters till this stage had Indian employees)
Visa Interview:
Me) Good morning sir
Officer) Give me your documents
Officer) How long have you been married? (towards my wife)
Wife) X years
Officer) Where did your baby born?
Wife) YYYY
Officer) Which hospital did she born?
Me) YYYY Hospital
Officer) How long have you been working in your current company?
Me) X years
Officer) What do you do in your role?
Me) YYYY YYYY YYYY ZZZ Told in 8-10 sentences
Officer) Where are you going in US?
Me) YYYY
Officer) I approve your visa
Me) Thanks a lot Sir


I recommend you to prepare answers for the following, rest will fall in place:
- What is your current job role & duties
- What will be your new team responsibility
- What special knowledge do you have and how does it map to your new job

Confidence is key in the interview. Provide honest answers.
Don’t try to impress the interviewer with words like : special knowledge, strong knowledge, Lot of tools, Many … etc.

Hi,

We have developed a product in Java to meet certain business features for YYYY domain. We are planning to customize this product for xxx client to meet the client requirements.

Can any one please advise me whether I can mark it as my specialization skill? If yes Can I get some help in questions that expected from VO?

Appreciate your help!

Hi,

I would like to share my interview experience on L1B.

Questions asked.

Who is your employer?
How long have you been with this employer?
Have you been to US before?
Who is your client?
Are you travelling for the same client?
What is your specialization?
How long have you been using these tools?

Answered to all the above questions... visa was approved. I should get in 3-4 days.

Thanks forum for all the help and guidance.

Regards
SMS

Hey Saman,

Can you please specify the answers to questions which was asked?? This will surely help us for our preparation....Thanks in advance!

How long you are working in xxx?
prior to that where u r working?
what is your specialization?
what is that tool?

-promptly answered all

but my case is rejected :( ...

take away -
only luck

Good luck to all who are going for interview.

Dear Listers,

I have my L1A - Blanket interview on 30th Nov. The reason for writing this is , I already have a B1 Visa and have been to US in 2007 for a duration of three months( current situation cannot stay more than 28 days)

The VO will ask me this question for sure and I cannot say that I have been doing business discussions for three months.

I belive there were some rejections on this factor.

Any suggestions in handling this situation and what are the questions that they generally ask?

How are the rejections on L1 A if you already have a b1 and stayed in usa for three moths instead of 28 days?


Thanks
Vilas

Hi All,

Thanks for all the experiences shared. It gives lot of hope and better understanding of interview scenario.

Now, its my turn to post my experience.

Lets discuss what happened on Interview day:

I attended the interview along with my family (wife and kids). Finished the initial process in OFC and went to actual interview on next day.

Note: For those who accompany with kids & infants will get high priority to attend the interview first. So please make sure you are ready for the interview once you paid the Frad. Det. fees. Within a minutes (after entering the building) I was asked to attend the interview.

Questions asked:

1. Where do you work?
2. What is your specialization?
3. How old are you? (to my daughter)

Visa officer was very friendly and was really enjoying our kids coversation and activities.

Comment from officer: Your visa papers looks good and put the approved seal in i-129S and gave it to us. Officer asked us to wait for a minute.. since he was searching for something in his system but a last he couldn't find and asked us to go to counter # 31 and gave us a pink slip.

In that counter, they collected all the Visa papers & passports and asked my resume and instructed us wait for 4 to 6 weeks.

I received the passport exatly after 4 weeks.(really painful days for the whole family)

So, guys please be cool whatever happens and do your homework before the Visa interview. I will suggest a mock interview if possible; so that you will be well prepared.

Here is the list of questions you should be ready to answer (collected from different source):

Which company do you work for?
How long have you been working in this company?
How many employees in your company hold the same title/position as you?
Which type of visa have you applied for? Or is this L1-A or L1-B
How much is your Indian and us salaries?
How many years have you worked on the product? Or how long have you been working in India office?
How long are you planning to stay?
So where are you going in us? Or which place you are going to work in us?
Have you been to us before?
How many people are working on this project?
How many persons working in xxx product in your company?
How many people of your role in this project?
What is your team size in us/India?
What is your total experience?
Have you have ever been to us on work visa?
Since how long are you working with the organization?
Why are you travelling to us?
What is your highest degree of qualification?
You have travelled earlier to USA was it for work?
What is your business industry?
What is your current role?
What is your experience in this product?
What is your date of joining in your current company?
The work that you going to do in us; why can't it be done from offshore? Or why would you have to travel to US?
What will be your role and job responsibilities in us? or What are you going to do in us for this product?
How many of those employees have the same skill set as you? Or How many people trained in this skill set? Or How many people have this specialization in your company? Or Can i have an exact number of people specialized on the same?
Why only you needed for this job? Or Why not somebody else? Or Why are you selected for this position instead of others?
Does your company have proprietary products?
Which application you are working ? or What kind of software you are working on?
What is your application do? & what all are the benefits ?
What are the tools used for this project? Or What kind of tools you use?
What is your business Industry?
What is your duties? Or What activity you are doing here in India for your project? Or
What is your role/title? Or What is your role and responsibility currently?
Why a person can’t be trained to work on this tool?
How did you gain expertise in these tools? Or What trainings have you completed? Or What are all trainings you have attended? Or How did you gain experience?

Specialization:

What is your specialized knowledge?
What specialization do you hold in your industry? -
What is your specialized knowledge in these products?
What makes you special for l1b blanket specialized skill?
Why you specialization so specialized
Whats your skill set?
For L1B visa, the primary qualification is the specialize knowledge, so what is your specialized knowledge ? How you be a specialize in these?

Hope this is useful...

All th best to all applicants. Be confident, cool and keep this in mind, if L1B blanked refused you have an option to apply for L1B individual, if that is also rejected you have another option to go for H1B next year. :-) (this is just an idea, for keeping yourself cool; but please try to get it in the first shot).

Thanks.

I attended the L1B Blanket Interview on 14th Nov 2012.

The Interview went very good.Everything was very much organised and I waited for my turn to attend the interview:-


The VO asked me the following question:-

What's Your Total Duration in the present Company?
<Answered>
What were you doing before joining this company?
<Answered>
From where have I completed my B.Tech
<Answered>
What's Your specialzation Skill
<Answered>
How may different clients have I served throught My company with the same specialization
<Answered>
How does this specialization makes me different from a joinee who can replace from USA itself having the same technical skilss
<Answered>

After hearing my reply, the VO said that"I am approving your visa".You will be getting your pasport soon.

Is it important to have worked upon a proprietary tool of my parent organization to be able to qualify for L1-Blanket Visa?