L1, L2 Visa

Thanks for this extensive forum. Me and my wife prepared for the interview from the questions here and it helped us a lot for getting the visa approved.

Mumbai consulate on our interview day was very eventful. Most of them were getting their visa denied and walked out with passport in hand.

Questions:
VO started with Hi Guys, How are you doing today ..

1. Which company do you work ?
I work for ZZZ

2. What do YYYY company do ?
ZZZ manufactures ... and provide software solutions..

3. What is your role in India ?
My role..

4. What will be your role in US ?
My role...

5. How long you are working for YYYY ?
Its been 4 years I am working for ZZZ

6. What would be your salary in US ?
My salary would be YYYY /year

7. Tell me about your academics ?
I did my Bachelors in Science and Masters in...

To my wife..

1. How long you are married ?
3 years

2. Was it a love marriage or arranged marriage
Love marriage

3. How did you convince your parents ?
We ...

I am approving your visa, have a nice time in US.

3 guys prior to us in our queue for L1 got rejected and fortunately we got it approved. With the new form I-129S, they also ask for the letter from the HR for border security fee details.

I had my visa interview on Jan 12th @ Chennai consulate .

The lady at the finger printing counter asked me for DD of 1 lakh 5000 . I had DD oly for ~22000 because Border security fee is not required for my company . Pls take note of this when u r goin on Blanket - L1.

Following were the questions asked
1. How long have you been with this company
2. Have u been to US before
3. What will you be doing in the US
4. How different are you from your peers . Why were you selected for playing this role in US .

Then came the golden words...Your visa is approved.

The interview was formal. Be confident and maintain eye contact.

I would like to Thank Immihelp for all experiences stated before- which really helped me get a mental picture of what to expect and helped me prepare for the interviws!

All i can say there are some important factors which govern where you get the L1 or not:

1. VERY VERY IMP : Which interviewer u get! yes- its a luck factor and plays an imp role. I know people from my org with similar (if not stronger credientials) than mine be rejected on the very ame day-------- > just depends on the Interviewer- what he asks

2. VERY IMP: How you conduct yourselves---- be clear and crip in answering. Prepare your answers- try it out at home and speak it out aloud. Interact with the Interviewer and be confident in your answers.

3. IMP: All paper work in place. A lot of people for rejected because the paper work was no adequate---- plz check as many times as possible -> ofcourse certain papers your company prepares and you have no control over-- but that needs to be strong.

When i went to for the interview- i was in-line for an hour (though i just arrived half an hour before my schedule time). After collecting the Wooden block and the biometric (finder scan) it took another half an hour for my interview turn.

(was hoping that this 'lady' didnt take my interview as i heard that she is rejecting application a lot----thanks to immihelp :) )

I saw a lotta people come out carrying their passport = visa not granted.... and for a moment felt tense--- the ineterviews seems long upto 10 mins (unlike what i had read before 2-3 mins).

The number are read out randomly- so one has to be very attentive.

I was asked questio on my exp with my org, specializatioin, name and location of client, edu details, some othe small talk... and it was approved.

last words: very important how you conduct yourselves and pray you get a good interviewer :)

Wishing you all the best --- and may the ones whoz destiny it is-- get the visa!!

(FYI- India is an awesome country to be in and work in------ its a win win whatever the outcome of the interview may be :) )

First of all thank to this site and everyone who has shared there experience and knowledge which is really helpful.

ME: Good Morning Madam,
VO: Good Morning

Vo: How long you are working for your company?
Me: X years and Y months

Vo: What is your specialized knowledge?
Me: explain about my special skills from the project

Vo: Who is the Client?
Me: ZZZ

That's all then came the golden words your Visa is approved and you will getting ur passport in week time thru courier.

Once again thank to this site and people who contributed there experience.

Hi All,

My visa got approved today.

VO: Hello Gm
Me: Good morning

VO: What r u going to do in US
Me: I started explaining about the work i am going to do.
VO: She against asked to explain in detail
Me: I explained about the project and then wat i would do there in detail
VO: Then she asked about the reporting managers at onsite and offshore
Me: **** **

Then the golden words came. " Ur visa is approved. You have to take 129 forms while entering US"

Main thing is how long you are staying with a company and how long you are working for the product is important to get an L1

Hi All,
First of all this site helped me a lot in preparing for the interview. My interview was on 11th Jan 2011.

Me: Good Morning
VO: Good Morning
VO: Which company are you working for
Me: xx company
VO: which client
Me: xx client
VO: For which project are you going for US
Me: Explained the details about the project..
VO: How many years of experience with your client
Me : Around 18 month
VO: Whats your specialized skill
Me: Expalined about specific skill which is rare and not common like (C,C++, Oracle etc)
VO: Why only you (Imp ques)
Me: Since i only know abt this skill i need to be present in onsite.
VO: Ok your visa is approved you will get your passport in a weeks a time

One important info - Be Clear confident in what you speak and maintain eye contact even if the VO did not see you. Defintely you will get your visa.

I had an valid L2 visa stamped in my passport and unfortunately i lost my passport. Here are things that I had to do:
1>Got an affidavit done stating that i have lost my passport (Annexure L).
2>Gave a police complaint at the police station ( my area).
3>Cops gave me an acknowledgement no FIR was registered, this is enough you dont need a full fledged FIR in case of lost passport.
4>Informed the Chennai Consulate of loss of passport via email to [email protected], make sure you send the email with subject line <full Name> - <Passsport number> and attach scanned copies of the lost passport ( if you have it)& acknowledgement.
5>You will get an email from the consulate stating that they have cancelled the old visa.
6>Re applied for passport in tatkaal seva.
7>Got my passport within 3 working days.
8>Applied for the L2 Visa again.
9>Scheduled the appointment on 12-01-2011.

Here is what happened at the consulate:
ME:Good Afternoon
VO:Hello
ME:I have misplaced my passport which had US visa on it.
VO:Ok
VO:when did u get married?
ME:<date>
VO:Was it love or arranged?
ME:<ans>
VO:Which place u got married?
ME:<place>
VO:y in this city?
ME:<ans>
VO:Wen did u get engaged?
ME:<ans>
VO:Wen did u first meet?
ME:<ans>
VO:Please give me ur husbands pay slips.
ME:gave him!
VO:y the pay slips r nt in dollars?
ME:coz he has been there only for 6 months!
VO: could u flip the pages of your wedding album!
ME:did so!
VO:your application has been accepted!
ME:Thank u!

Make sure you take the acknowledgement email of cancellation that you receive from the consulate.

I have got approval notice from California Centre on my individual petition of L1 B done on premium processing. After a round of request for evidence submission and testing i received the approval within 15 days of final documents submission. I will have to face the interview for VISA stamping sometime later this month. Can anyone share similar experience? I am trying to find out the criticality of interview in my case. Someone told me that the interview in such a case is a formality because USCIS has already taken long to scrutiny and approve my case. Is that true?

Hi All,

      This site helped me a lot in preparing the interview. so, let me give my bit to incoming people. On 11th Jan, 2011 I went to US Consulate. 12.00 pm was my appointment, so by the time my turn came most of the people had completed there turn. I was greeted by a beautiful lady.
Me: Good Afternoon
Lady: Hi How are you doing
Me: Fine, thank you
Lady: Which Company are you working
Me: IBM Pvt Ltd
Lady: How many Years
Me: In IBM 2.2 Years
Lady: How many total Years of exp
Me: 4.11 years
Lady: What are you skill set
me: Cognos Impromptu, Congos Powerplay web, Cognos transformer, Reportnet..
she interrupted
Lady: Can you please repeat
so I repeated with all the details, looks like she was noting down
Lady: What do you in the current project
I explained about my work and what things I do.
Lady: How many of you are do the same kind of job
I said I was the only person doing this kind of job, she repeated that two or three times, I stayed to my answer.
Lady: What are you going to do onsite
I started to explain about my work and the migration of the project, she interrupted and said yours is approved and the passport will be dispatched and you will get within a week.

Thanks to this site for providing a platform to share the interview experiences. It is really helpful.

My reporting time was 11:15 and I reached the embassy @ around 10:15. They allowed me inside and the lady volunteer inside issued me the token number after arranging my documents in order. The pre-interview process involves:
- Verification of the document @ any window from 1 to 9
- Finger Prints @ window 10 or 11
- Visa Fees submission @ window 22
There were queues at all these counters and it took me around 1 hr to get these formalities done.

After that I had to wait for 1 more hour before my turn came at the interview counter no-16. There are only two counters for L1 interviews I guess No 16 and 17 as all the C-XX nos were called only there.

Initially being unaware, I went to the counter before submitting my draft, the VO looking at the draft said with a smile "I dont want any money at my counter. Please submit it to counter 22 first and then and come to me". I nodded and went away.

I came back quickly after submitting the draft and stood a behind the same counter as he had started with the another interview. He called me after that:

Me: With a smile "Good Morning once again"!
VO: "Good Morning. Give me your papers."
Me: "Ya here it is". Putting the papers inside.
VO: "Which Company you work for?"
Me: "ZZZ"
VO: "What do you do?"
Me: YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY XX
VO: Looking at the monitor "Where are you going?"
Me: "City, State"
VO: Paused for few seconds. Examined the papers for a while and the asked "Who is your client?"
ME: YYYY X
VO: "What are you going to do for them?"
ME: YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY YYYY
VO: "What is your project all about?"
ME: YYYY YYYY YYYY X
VO: Nodded and Looking at the form asked. "How Long you have been married"?
ME: I replied being unsure whether this question was for me or my wife, "We got married on YYYY XX"
My Wife replied after "XX year and XX months".
VO: With a smile to me. "You wife was looking at you as if you better remember your marriage date".
ME: "Ya I know Girls are good with dates not the guys" and we all giggled.
VO: To my wife, "So Mam what do you do?"
My Wife: "I am a house wife"
VO: "What you use to do before getting married"?
My Wife: "I have done xxxxx and was working as a xxxxx".
VO: Smiling and Keeping our papers in the visa issued tray "Hmmm so now you are going to YYYY ". "Your application is accepted and you will recieve your passport through courier in 3 days."
ME and My Wife: "Thank you. It was nice meeting you. Have a good day ahead".
VO: "Nice meeting you too."

I read through the blogs below and people say dont get tensed, keep cool, etc etc. But I am sure unless you have experienced it many a times, everyone would have got butterflies in stomach walking towards the counter. And Its obvious human tendency when one feels his dreams or carrier aspiration heavily on-stake.
But the key for sure is to be confident in speech even if you are nervous inside.
Dont be over conscious just be what you are and to for that you need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

I hope my experience will provide you all with some comfort before the interview.