L1, L2 Visa

Many Many Thanks to Immihelp!

My interview along with my wife and 2 children was scheduled on 3rd Jan 2012 and i reach the consulate before 20 minutes. I show interview and confirmation letter to security and they help to get in to the queue for that time slot.

once my turn came at a cubicle, I show them interview and confirmation letter and they have allocated a Token to me. Then we all went through a security check to get in to the consulate through main door.

we were again checked and allowed to enter to first building where my token was displayed to a window where I get all the documents verified. After verification, they bundle the require docs for interview along with passports and guide me through fingerprint counter where we were 10 finger printed and guided through to another building.

I submitted DDs to an Account / payment Window and get a payment slip. we were told to wait until our token number called for the interview.

My token number displayed on the screen, I cross the Line and greet VO “hi, Good Morning” with a smile. VO also greeted same & asks for my Token Number, Staple Confirmation page along with Passports which I received at Document Verification Counter.

Then VO started with –

Question: You are from YYYY ZZZ?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What is your designation?

Answer: I replied with my current designation

Question: What is your current Salary?

Answer: I replied with my current salary PA

Question: Where are you going in US?

Answer: i replied with city and state name in US where i intended to go

Question: Who is your client?

Answer: i replied with my client name.

Question: How long you are working with current employer?

Answer: X Years & X Months

Question: How long you are with client?

Answer: X Years & X Months

Question: What is your Purpose to Travel?

Answer: I explained the new project in 2 lines without use on any technical words/ jargons and abbreviations. (VO has verified same with BEP)

Question: What is your specialized Knowledge?

Answer: I replied as per my job description in I129s without use of any technical words / jargons and abbreviations in total layman language for easy of understanding for a non technical person.

Question: What is your Experience? Total Experience?

Answer: XX Years & XX Months

Question: how many people are working on this project?

Answer: I replied with XX number

Then VO looks behind and asked -

Question: Where is your Family?

Answer: I introduce her with my wife, both the Child

Then she asked to my elder child -

Question: What is your name?

Answer: ZZZ

Question: What is your Age?

Answer: XX Years

Question: How old is your brother?

Answer: XX Years

Question: Are you studying?

Answer: Yes

Question: in which standard?

Answer: XX standard

Then VO commented to me “I approve your visa request. You will receive your passports within one week."

AND That was the great moment for me! I feel great at that time and started thinking on new assignment which i need to complete in US.

then VO stamped "RECEIVED along with date" on two copies of I 129 and return to me by explaining that one is for my employer and the other is for my reference.

"Have a nice day” with a smile and I also smiled at VO “Have a great day. Thank you and have a great new year ahead”.

KEY Points which i noticed -

 - Be simple and sober. Wear simple clothes like a trouser and light colour shirt along with a dull colour tie matching to both your trouser and shirt which is in likable colour in anyone's eyes.

 - Do not use any technical word / name of any technical tools as they are non technical and your interview will get mess up as they will keep asking questions on the technical word / tool you named.

 - Keep the answers very short, crispy and simple which is understandable by a non technical person very easily.

 - Be sure on why you are going and needed in US and what you will be doing there along with what special you have which you can explain in one / two line in a layman language to prove the same(L1B).

L1B visa was scheduled for interview on 3rd Jan 2012 under BEP category. Visa got approved, but it is under administrative process under section 221G and I will get my visa anytime between 4-8 weeks. Go through old questions, no new question are asked till today. At last it is all in VO hands to issue visa or not. Give the best from your side.
Thanks http://www.immihelp.com.

I would like to share my experience of my L1-A visa interview.
Finally with the help of Immihelp, I got it.

I've been prepared very clear and solid. By the time i reach counsulate office, i'm on my own. The process started this way

Me: Good Morning Officer, How are you today?
VO: Doing great, How are you?
Me: I'm fine, Thank you.

VO: What is this **** *** (company name)
Me: Anwered in 10 words. SO and So

After looking at his computer of my petition he started coversation
VO: What is your Qualification
Me: Bachelors in Computer Science

VO: Which company you are .... (Questions not completed)
Me: **** **** * (told comapny name)

VO: Holded and said let me complete. Are you going to work inhouse or at client side
Me: Inhouse

Again started looking at petition and Said:

Confgratulation, you Visa got approved, you will recieve your passpost in 5 Bus day.

Me: Thank you, have a good day.

Here Immihelp formula, eye to eye contact and fresh look with smart clothing hellped a lot.
All the best, Happy immigration

Thanks,
Diamond star

Hi all,

My L2 visa got approved today. I must say the new US consulate office is very good also the employees are very familiar and help full enough to get cool and confident.

The questions asked were:
1.) why you want to go.
2.) where your husband lives there
3.) why didn't applied together
4.) how old your marriage
5.) what your husband does there
6.) how long he is there
7.) how many guests were there in your marriage
8.) can i see some marriage photos
9.) Do you have any child
10.) How many rounds you had taken in front of fire in your marriage.

And finally VO said yours is approved. You will get your passport in 4-5 days by courier.

TIPS: Don't loose your confidence and balance by seeing someone get rejected. Ignore if the questionnaire of another applicant is audible to you.

All the best.

Hi Guyz,

I got my L1B approved in Chennai. Questions asked were

Duration with the company ?
Current Salary?
What you'll be doing in U.S. ?
What's your specialized knowledge ?

Thanks Immihelp for all the help.

My L1b visa got approved today in Chennai consulate.The interview was quite ok. The following questions were asked.

1.Total experience
2.Salary
3.Work i will be doing onsite
4.Area i will be working on and my specialisation on it

Some quick tips:
1.Ensure you have a latest photograph of you for application.Mine was 6 months old and they didn't accept it. So had to spend 1/2 hr extra to get new prints in consulate. An applicant there was called thrice again before his photo got ready.All this adds unneeded anxiety. I found quite a lot of people there taking new photo prints.

2.Technical jargons make VOs very uncomfortable.Need to keep it simple.An applicant before me was continuously grilled for several minutes just because he was mouthing several technical terms.

3.Prepare your answers before hand on how to explain your area of work, how it is being applied and your specialisation on it. This should enable you to answer rest of the questions easily.

First let me clarify something I have found during my 11/2 stay at Visa consulate chennai.

The officers there are not in any intention of rejecting the visas. They are there to listen to us and decide whether to approve or reject.

So please prepare well and answer accordingly. Dont Panic. The below are key criteria required for getting your L1 Blanket Visas approved.

1. Having good experiance witht the company and Client.
2. Having reasonably good salary.
3. Have good domain knowledge and specialized technical knowledge. (please prepare well to explain you specialized knowledge in detail and in layman language)
4. Testing is not considered a specialized knowledge. So please avoid the term testing and try to use the terms S/W implementation and Product release (which any testing team would finally help doing).

Below was my experiance at Visa consulate.

My slot was at 8:00 AM in the morning and I was there by 7:45 AM. People of both 7:45 AM and 8AM slots started standing in the queue and the staff guided us. We need to show the interview letter and DS160 confirmation sheet and get our Verification Numbers. Remember this will be the number by which you will be identified and called for further verifications.

I then moved for security checkups where security personnel will keeping enquiring about mobiles, Data cards, CDs etc which are strictly prohibited. After security check you will be guided to a hall where you will be waiting for document verification till your number is displayed on the LCD screens available there.

The verification officer will create a bundle of all the required documents that you need to handover to VO. They will then collect the fingerprints in a different counter and will guide us to the next building.

After waiting for our turn in next building we will be guided to the counter where we need to pay our fee. (Again keep looking at the LCD monitors for your number). After paying the fee you will have to wait for your turn for the final round.

I got my number and went to my queue at around 9:05AM. The officer looked very serious and was talking to a F1 applicant. I realized that this guy doesnt care to smile and is not going to leave me so easily. But after enough enquiries he is approving most of the visas.

Me: Good Morning
VO: Good Morning. How are you??

Me: I am good. How are you??
VO: Not so bad.

Vo: Which company do you work for??
Me: XYZ

VO: How long have you been working in the company?
Me: 4Y 10 Months

Vo: Who is your client?
Me; XYZ

VO: Started looking at my passport and found my expired L1B page. Then asked me, looks like you visited US before. How long were you there?

Me: Yes, I was there for 9 months from Jul 2008 to April 2009.

Vo: Cancelled my Visa and aksed me the purpose of the visit.
Me: I am going there to work on a system software upgrade project.

VO: Your specialization?

Me: I gave abbreviated usage of the coding language we use.

Vo: What does that mean?
Me: I explained him.

Vo: Is that a third party S/W??
Me: No.

Vo: What is the software you use then?

Me: I explained.

Vo: Those are too many acronyms. If you use any more acronyms I cannot approve you visa. (He was very uncomfortable listening to the acronyms)?
Me: I apologized and explained him in detail about the software application and the project I am going to work on.

VO: In this domain what is the software You develop used for. Is it Finance, billing???

Me: No it is claims processing.

Vo: Does your company have proprietary tools that you use?

Me: Yes I explained them. Made sure that I immediately expanf the acronyms of the tools we use.

Vo: He smiled and said. I approve your Visa. You will get it in 5 days.

Me; Thank you/

VO: Sir, dont use acronyms we dont have knowledge to undestand them.
Me: I apologized again and thanked him.

All this barely took 4 min but it took a day for me to realize that I got through.

Remember please be confident and prepare well with 3 to 4 answers realted to your specialized skills and domain.

All the best...

I had:
B1 valid
L1-Individual which expired last month
This time went for Company Blanket

He asked these Qs:
1. Which company
2. What you do for them?
3. What products do you work on ?

After this he got into argument of I do not understand YYYY (which i said i am working on) - I explained it does YYY then he agian said I do not understand this either.

I said forgot it - I started explaining very basic as I would explain to school kid. Then he somehow understood - I felt.

4. How many times did u travel before?
5. Why so many times?
6. How long you going now?

After this he started typing in system and said he approved me in specialized knowledge in blanket. But he put me on Admin processing which will take 4-6 weeks.

So key is: -
If you already have travelled before - be in position to tell what you did and how long you travelled. Also do not get into technical jargons of your company. First explain in simple language if he insist then you can get into technical language.

For wife:

Nothing he asked... as I already had heated situation with him.

And top of all:

Do not get de-motivated with rejection comments in this forum or if you see somebody rejected in your line - they have there own set of issues to be rejected.

If you are qualified for this visa and required doc support - then it is your visa - Just go get it - they are there to give you what you need.

All the best !!

Hi Guys,

My Interview for L1 Blanket schedule at 10:30 on 23rd December. Questions mentioned below.

Which Company You are working for?

How much Exp do you have in current Company?

What is your specialized skills?

Where did you work prior to current company.

VO finally told that your VISA approved and will get it in 5 days.

Be cool......

Hi guys,

Got my L1B(Individual) approved at Chennai consulate. They are scrutinizing each and every L1 case. Especially for Blankets.

I assumed for L1 Ind, it shouldnt have taken much time.But the Vice Consul, was trying to understand and i had to prove what makes my knowledge 'Specialised' . Here are the Questions asked

- Whats your specialised knowledge ?

- How long in your current company ? - More no of years, added advantage

- Which location, how many employees at onsite, whats the Client.

- Explain how specialised knowledge is different than general knowledge.