L1, L2 Visa

Fianlly after lot of restlessness managed to clear the interview
I think its not about how you dress, how much you sleep or how you behave, all depends on your case.
If you have a valid case, you will definately get the.visa

Also, i dont think that the decision is made just with 2/3 questions.
There might be some background process involved prior to the interview and interview is just the final pitstop.

In my case most of the things went wrong

Hardly slept for 2/3 hrs yesterday and so was all sleepy in the morning
Went there a,most 1.5 hrs before time, but still the interview finished 1.5 hrs after time :)

Did all the formalities as mentioned
Waited for interview when my token was called

Vo: good morning, how r u
Me: good morning, im fine, how bout u

Passed my documents

Vo: which company do u work for
Me: xyz

Vo: How long have u been there
Me: 2 n half yrs

Vo: whats ur total exp
Me: almost 10 years

Vo: did u hav ne visa b4
Me: yes, h4, my wife is in us

Vo: which company does she work for
Me: xyz

Vo: have u been to US
Me: yes, i was there for a month to meet her

Vo: where does she stay
Me: charlotte, nc

Vo: oh, and ur comapny is sending u to illonies, dat will be difficult for u guys (smiling)
Me: no issues, will hav to manage

Vo: ok, whats ur specialization sir
Me: i secialise in implementing my companys proprietary framework to effeciently manage customers infrastructure

Vo: ok, whats that framework
Me: xys

Vo: so u will be involved in design and all
Me: yes, will be aligning customers processes as per this framework

Vo: ok, how much was ur exp in this comapny again ?
Me: 2 n half yrs sir

Vo: and wat will be ur salary der
Me: xyz

Vo, stamping the docs and uttering the golden words - ur visa is approved, u will get ur pp in weeks time
Me: thank you

Forgot to say " have a nice day"
Also didnt answer my specialization that fluently, but i think he got the point

So my suggestion to everyone here is, makesure u have a valid case
Make sure all ur docs are ozing specialised skills since the day ur visa got initiated
I have seen some of my collegues bep and other documents and they nowhere mention any specialised skills
I think this is really important and it can be verified that whatever u are saying is as per the docs

Secondly, be positive, dont keep studying till the end
Just analyse what ur case is and wat will be answers to different questions

Im not sure what was considered good in my case
Because initial 30% of time we were talking bout my wife n her company
also, i have heard ppl saying they have expertise in customers app and have worked for that cust for long time
I dont think that actually matters, because what they are looking for is some specialised skill of UR COMPANY that u will be implementing at client side
So u shud b able to justify dat

Also, if ur not doing any thing special on ur project but are aware if other project where specialised skill is used, use that example
Its not necessary that it has to be ur project, i think if other oroject can help make ur case strong, u can always use that in ur case ;)

So, dont worry, just relax

Satish

Hi friends,

Could you provide your inputs for my L1-B and L2 interview going to be on 17-Sep-2012(monday) at 11.15 am.

-Ram

I reached 10 min before the appointed time. Finished all the paper work ( ten printin etc ) and moved to the next building for the interview. My token number came up in 5-6 minutes.

Walked up and greeted the VO. She was an aged lady in her mid forties.

Me & my wife : Good Morning, how are you doing ?
VO: GM, I am great how about you?
Me: Alive and kicking !
VO: Starts laughing ( she found it very very funny )

Now VO is cranking the key board and looking at the screen .......2 min pass by then she says-

VO: Your records were not correct I was just fixing that
Me: Thanks !
VO: Where do you work and how long ?
Me: XYZ - 8 years
VO: Which City are you headed to
Me: ABC
VO: Your client?
Me: State of YYYY

Now my 4 year old son is getting restless, VO looks at him and says -

VO: I'll finish this now
Me: My son thinks we are changing his school and he is her for admission
VO: Starts laughing and finds that too hilarious !

VO: Everything is approved , you guys have fun in US

No questions to my wife, not a single document checked.

My 2 cents - Go with a happy go lucky attitude and be crisp in your replies.....and humor always helps :-)

Interview tomorrow, fingers crossed !!

My interview was scheduled at 10:30 AM..I reached by 9:20 and the interview was over by 10:00 !!
VO was a nice lady.

VO : Good morning
ME : Good morning mam, how are you ?
VO : Good, how are you ?
ME : I am fine.
VO : For how long you are working with YYYY ?
ME : X Yrs
VO : Will you be working at X or at client location ?
ME : Client location
VO : Where is you client ?
ME : YYYY , XX
VO : What is your client name ?
ME : YYYY
VO : What will be your job responsibilities at client side ?
ME : Explained my specialized skill and how I will be applying my skills at onsite activities. (She got impressed)
VO : What is your indian salary ?
ME : XX.XX lpa. (Not much)

VO : Ok good..I am approving your visa. Your passport will be sent to you in 7 days. Have a great journey ahead.
ME : Thanks mam, Thanks mam..n number of times.

Tips:
Reach early. They may take ur interview before your scheduled time.
If you have specs, remove it while taking you photo. The lady who collected the docs said to me that I am considering this time but your photo should have been taken without any specs.
Smile..Greet the officer..Its never too late to greet them.
Specialized skill : Guys, please understand this terms before going for interview. Product, Process, Framework, Methodologies, Propritery tools - include these terms in your skill. There are 100% chances that if you have specialized skill and if you can explain to them properly, you will get the visa. I saw people getting rejected on this specialized skill front. They used terms like "SAP", "Data collection", "Support" etc.
Confidence : Be loud and clear. Do not get your confidence low by listening to other people.

Thats it..i am on cloud 9..

Thank you all Immihelp users for posting your experiences and tips which helped a lot in getting my L1B visa approved.

Here is a quick summary of my Interview. I went alone for stamping without any L2

VO -- Ticket Number xyz please come forward
me -- Hello, Good Morning
VO -- Good Morning, How are you doing today
me -- I am doing good, how are you
VO -- I am fine, Thank you
VO -- so who is your employer
me -- I am working with xyz
VO -- for how long have you been with xyz
me -- I have been working here since xx years
VO -- why would you have to travel to US?
me -- (This was the most important question I was expecting and was well prepared for it. Gave all the details pertaining to my work assignment in the USA and the specialization it requires, the proprietary tool / knowledge which I posses and the years of experience I have in that field which makes me a specialized professional)
VO -- It is great to hear that, I approve your visa
me - Thanks a lot
VO -- I would be giving you two sets of signed I129S documentation to you. I set would be for you to retain it and show it to the US Immigration department on your arrival in USA and the other set would be for your employer
me -- Thanks a lot mam and have a good day
VO -- Thank you

Experience at Chennai US Embassy on 6/Sep - L1B/L2 Approved !


1. Note that Bags (example College bags, havasacks) are NOT allowed inside consulate.
What is allowed inside consulate is only documents folder, wallets, small purses, marraige albums etc. Make sure you dont have any CD/DVD discs or sealed envelopes in your documents folder since those will be seized.

2. Make sure to reach 1 to 1.5hr before interview scheduled time early.

3. Approach a booth outside embassy you need to show interview letter & take a token number. There will be 2 slips given here. Keep Token SLIP with yourself all the time since all the future counters will be assigned on this basis only.

4. Now on basis of this token slip, if you want to deposit any bags etc outside. Ask around for bag deposit counter outside the embassy. Show your token slip and they will charge INR10 for each deposit and keep your bag.

5. Then proceed to security check at entrance where they will verify you are carrying no bags etc. The documents folder will also be looked for some sealed envelopes/CD/DVD which are restricted items. In our case, in one of our folder by mistake there was DVD/CD so then we had to come out and discard that CD/DVD and then go in. So to avoid this make sure you check your documents folder upfront.

6. Once inside embassy, there will be several counters (with individual token queue) on left & right. Dont be confused, instead find a seat with "view to TV screen". look out for token on display TV creen - instead of scanning each counter which is difficult. Each token will be displayed in ascending order and next to it there will be counter number assigned. Be alert on the display. After you enter into the embassy area, you should be assigned counter based on the queue in our case it was assigned within in 5-10mins.

7. After counter is assigned, proceed to counter. Give the 1 out of the 2 token slips you have recieved. The other token slip keep with you till the end and dont drop it anywhere. Now on this counter, the person will ask for following items
7.a. 3 Copies of I-129 & I-797 Petition
7.b. Your passport (& your spouse passport)
7.c. 2 copies of Photo
7.d. Bar code slips
 After verification, they will hand these back to you and ask you to head to next counter number#.

8. The next counter will be the finger printing. You will be asked to place in following order
8.a. left hand 4 fingers(apart of thumb) and wait for confirmation
  8.b. left hand thumb and wait for confirmation
8.c. right hand 4 fingers(apart of thumb) and wait for confirmation
  8.d. right hand thumb and wait for confirmation
After confirmation you will be asked to proceed to next building

9. In next building there will be again display where your token number will appear against counter.
On this counter you need to go and pay your DD. (Make sure to write on back of DD with pencil your name, Passport number, Visa type) After this is accepted you will be asked to wait for the interview with consulate.
Take a seat and keep eye on the display TV where the counter will be assigned to your Token.

<Imp : Be very alert once counter assigned immediately identify the counter and be inline to that queue>

10. In our case after paying DD, immediately in 2 mins counter was assigned and we approached the window for consulate window.

11. Interview starts :

Both : Hello
VO : Sorry the system is very slow today

VO : So you are from which company ?
ME : From this & this company in X city

VO : Ok, in which module/application you are working ?
ME : xx

VO : How many years have you worked on the module ?
ME : 7.5+ years

VO : How many years you have worked in the company ?
Me : 7.5+ years

VO : what is specialized knowledge that you have
ME : <answer related to specific functional and cross system knowledge that i have which the customer is looking for>

VO : How long are you planning to stay ?
ME : Around 1-2 years and then join back my company

To my wife:
VO : How long have you both being married ?
VO : What is your educational background ?

Finally :
VO : I will be approving your Visa, and here are 2 copies of I-129S with approvals.

Both of us : Thank you very much !

<In general our interview was scheduled for around 10AM. We reached by 8.45AM in morning. And by 9.45AM we were out with the approved Visa !>

Asked Qns:
Vo: how are you doing ?
me: doing good. thank you
Vo: What your specialization ?
Me: blah..Blan..
Vo: What is your Role @ Onsite ?
Me: Tch Architech
Vo: What you are going to do thr ?
Me: design...blah..blah
Vo: Are you going to work Client Location ?
Me: yes
Vo:How many members are there @ onsite now ?
Me: 7
Vo: All are from your company?
Me: No..from diifferent companies but few of them are from my company
Vo : Sorry ..u can talk ur HR and apply for other Catagaory of Visa...
Me : Thank you sir.
Vo: Good Luck

My VO officer was a lady and looks quite active. Her voice crystal clear, which is positive point for me.
She greeted me before i could do.. that is unusual experience.

VO: Good Morning
Me: Good Morning (skipped How are you intentionally, as she asked for documents quickly..Got a feeling that it would impact heavilly)
VO: What is is xxx company
Me: I started briefing about my company.. she maintained eye contact for a while..
VO: What is your specialization
Me: I said xxx
VO: Why you specialization so specialized
Me: I explained about the complexity of the work and proprietary kind of product i was working in. I created tools to reduce errors.
VO: Do you create software.
Me: I said i don't create software.. I customize software for delivering to projects. She is keenly looking at me assessing my answer...
VO: What kind of tool have you created..
Me: I explained. xxxxx etc..
VO: How much is your Indian and US salaries..
Me: I answered xxx INR/annum and yyyy USD/annum
VO; How long is your stay in US
Me: I said it will be for 1year assignment.
VO: Which city..
Me: xxxxx-Texas
VO: How long you worked for this company
Me: I said 3years..
VO: What is engineering specialization..
Me: I said xxxxx

Then there was lot calm.. she got busy in computer.. I was wondering whether she approve or not.. She didn't allow me to say any thing in full.. She interrupted and changed questions so quickly..
Finally she turned to me and said, your VISA is approved. You will get passport within 5days.
I took happy breath.. I said Thank you..

VISA appointment: 7th sep, 8:30 Pm..
Better to reach consulate by one hour earlier to your appointment.

Hi All,

Many thanks to this website immihelp which is indeed very helpful for all the Visa aspirants. I had been following this website posts closely.

My interview was scheduled at 11:00 AM on 5th Sep 2012 . I reached the consulate at 10:00 AM. There was a big queue outside the consulate so it was helpful to be there a bit early.

The Question Answer session with the VO.

VO was a lady and seemed to be friendly (though i was wrong)

Me : Hi GM Mam
VO : GM. (She sounded very cheerful)

Me : How are you doing today ?
VO : Great, how about you

Me : Doing good , thanks.

VO : May i have your papers
Me : Sure (handed over my documents to her)

VO : Is this L1-A or L1-B
Me : L1-B under specialized knowledge worker category.


VO : Which company you work for ?
Me : YYY company (Its is a well known telecom based company)

VO : So where are you going in US
Me : I will be going to Plano, Texas


VO : Ohh ok , which Client?
Me : YYYY

VO : mmmm (Looks like she knew the client as she nodded and repeated the name of the client)

VO : So how much will you be getting in US in INR ?
Me : Well, (paused, Mannnnnn, i had to convert the salary in INR) ,approximately xxx /annum


VO : So what will you be doing for the client ZZZ.
Me : I am an expert in YYY and will be developing and implementing YYYY solution on the client's hardware. This involves YYYY and YYY.

VO : (Stops me in between), So are you a hardware engineer ? (She has stopped working on her system and is directly looking in my eyes)
Me : No Mam, I am a software engineer. For bringing up this hardware i will be writing YYYY and YYY softwares.


VO : (Sounding a bit impatient now) So what exactly will you be doing there ? (Still maintaining eye contact and listening very carefully to what ever i was saying)
Me : Explained in 2-3 sentences again .

VO : Will you be doing integration there?
Me : (Took a deep breath, thought this is the last question and she is about to reject my VISA) Integration will be a part of my job responsibilities there. Now i explained in plain terminology my specialization and the complexity involved in designing such a system. Also told her that i have been doing similar kind of projects from the last 3.5 years and have close to 8 years of work experience.

VO : (nodding her head, started stamping my forms). Ok sounds good. I can approve your Visa today. You will get your passport within 5 business days.

Me : (Phewwwwwwwww, a sigh a relief). Thank you so much Mam.

VO : Take these 2 I-194 forms , give one to your HR and other to the immigration office when you land in US
ME : Yeah , sure . Thanks again mam. You have a great day ahead

VO : You too..


My 2 cents

1. Guys, understand that this L1-B is a specialized knowledge worker Visa. Convince yourself first before going for the interview.
2. Be well prepared for this interview but for heavens sake Do NOT mug up. The VO can immediately get to know.
3. Try to remain calm and confident. I know its very difficult but try.
4. Stop reading atleast 1 day before the interview. This is not an examination. And try to relax as much as possible . Get a good sleep
5. Prepare well, leave the rest to GOD.
6 Last but not the least "All the Very Best for all the Visa aspirants."

Thanks,
Ashish