L1, L2 Visa

Dear All,

I would like thank immihelp portal for helping me in clearing the interview.

I am working for one of the MNC company in Bangalore and applied for L1B Blanket Visa.

I went with the family along with 2 years old kid, Interview is very smooth and answered it confidebtly.

I have biometric on 27th Jan at 4 PM and it took hardly 15 mins. Please make sure to carry the photo for kids (50mm*50MM) and its mandatory.
On next day, 28th Jan, PA interview is at 9.30 AM and reached the office at 9 AM and waited for 5 mins in the queue. A guy from consulate came and validate the documents
and send us to consulate office directly and skipped the queue bcoz of kid. inside the consulate, first is the security check in and declare all your things at security.
Note: Do not carry mobiles, wallets, keys,credit cards etc. will not be allowed.You can surrender your mobiles near police chowki at consulate and collect it post the interview.
After this went inside and guy sitting inside asked us arrange the documents. Once it is done, he will fold and put the rubber band and send us to go for next building where actual interview happens.
Then we went inside and stand in the queue for submitting the DD and collected the recipts then moved to finger print again and then to PA interview.

There is a long queue and we skipped directly went to a lady in the counter for interview.

Me: Good morning Ma'm.
VO: Good Morning Sir. Please pass on the documents.
Me: I have passed all the documents which are folded and put it the rubber band along with the fee recipt.

VO: You are working for "company"?
Me: Yes ma'm , i am working for "company"

VO: How long your are working with this company?
Me: I have been working with Company for 4 years

VO: How long you are working on this project?
Me: I have been working with this project for 4 years.

VO: who is your client?
Me: My client is my comapany at US.

VO: ARe you going to work in client location?
Me: No. I will be based of the company location at US.

VO: Are u going as a manager ?
Me: No. I have going for specialized knowledge professional on the properitary tool.

VO: well. WHat is the tool name and what it does?
Me: Explained. Its a proprieatry tool and funactionality and other things about tool.

VO:what is your specializtion?
Me: Explained, my experience, role and specialization as per the petition. Please stick to your petition and answer confidently.

VO: which location you are travelling to US?
Me: I am travelling to california

VO: how long you are going to stay in US?
Me: I am, going to stay in US for 3 years.

For My wife:

How long you both married.
How old is your kid.

VO is contionously typing the computer and asking the questions.

Finally gloden word she said i am approving your visa and give me a moment to stamp your documents. Once visa is stamped, VO said your visa is granted and handled over the 2 sets of 1-129s and you will receive the passport in 3 working days.

Note: Be confident while answering the questions. do not use much technical words since they were not from techniocal background.they will understand at high level.

Hi All,

Thanks for sharing your experiences, these helped me a lot in preparing for my interview. Here is my experience. I had the Biometric and Visa interview both scheduled for 12th Feb and came along with my wife. Biometric, as mentioned by others, is a very straight forward process and you are in and out in 15-20 minutes.

For the consulate interview, there is no point in reaching consulate more than 15 minutes before your interview as you will have to stand on the side of the road. Please do not stand in the long queue and keep checking the time slot cards which are displayed to see the time slots which are being let in and move accordingly.

The guards outside do have lockers/spaces to keep your phones and other belongings and give you a token but I can't comment on the reliability of the same as I didn't use the facility.

The whole process took less than an hour, from standing in the first queue to coming out of the consulate. It could have taken much lesser time but there was a delay due to a discrepancy in my wife's photo; not sure how as the photo was taken an hour back at the VAC :).

After moving through the queues, we reach the VO and following questions were asked:

VO: Passport please.
Me: Gave the passport of me and my wife.

VO: You have applied for L1 Blanket?
Me: Yes.

VO: A or B?
Me: A

VO: Which company do you work for?
Me: Answered

VO: What do they do?
Me: Explained

VO: What is your designation in US?
Me: Manager - ZZZ.

Here she fumbles while typing, I make a joke about it, we share a laugh.

VO: How much is your salary in US?
Me: ZZZ,ZZZ$ with YYYY X performace bonus.

VO: Asked for three level of hierarchies.
Me: I will report to Director, he reports to the SVP who reports to the CEO.

VO: How many direct reports you have in US?
Me: 5.

VO: Do you have any indirect reports?
Me: No.

VO: What is your duty?
Me: Explained.

VO to my wife: How long have you two been married?
Wife: xx years.

All the while she was checking something on her computer and then she says congratulations, you visa has been approved. We thanked her and came out.

The interview didn't last for more than 5 minutes. Please be confident when you answer the VO and if your case is genuine, you have nothing to worry about.

Drop your email in case you want to know more and I will respond.

Thanks.

My wife is on L2 visa in US . Is there any insurance which provides maternity coverage in US ?

All, first of all thanks for sharing your experiences here. It has helped me immensely.
I have been working in an MNC on L1A blanket visa for 3 years. I came for the extension and stamping at the Chennai consulate. I didn't realise that it's a new I 129 S that needs to be submitted . So pretty much like a fresh L1A Blanket application.

The interview was on Feb 5th. the whole process seemed to take a while. I got to the interview after about 1.5 hours of waiting in multiple queue.
VO asked the following questions
Which company is your petitioner?
What do they do?
Where is it located?
What's your salary?
What's your role?
How many direct/indirect reports do you have? - I am a functional manager. This was where I felt the VO was not convinced at first. She kept probing as to what function I manage. I then explained in detail what I did (also the same keywords mentioned in the supporting document). Then she seemed to be convinced - after couple more questions. She approved my visa.

It could have gone either way for me.
For those functional managers - please ensure you are thorough with your profile and be ready to explain it's significance to the organization.

Good Luck to all!!

Hello,

I received approval for my L1A visa extension and I am planning to go to India for stamping later this month. I got my original visa from Chennai consulate but can someone please advise if I need to go to Chennai consulate only for extension stamping or we can go to any consulate in India. And am I eligible for Drop box. Please share you experience.

Hi All,

I have received RFE for my L1B Individual regular processing after 7 months. Again I need to give job duties and specialized skill details etc. My company suggested not to refrain from original petition.

For Specialized skill, how can I mention something new (tool) in short duration. Please advise.
Should I write a new set of roles and responsibilities?

Awaiting for you responses. I need to respond to my questionnaire within 3 business days.
Thanks a ton,
Jacob

Hi all

Thanks to everyone who posted their experiences earlier. Each one has helped me immensely to prepare for my L1A.

I got my L1A blanket approved yesterday. Went alone without family as our baby is too young to travel now. Pretty basic questions -

VO - So you applied for a L1A Blanket Manager?
Me : Yes, thats right

VO - So you work for **** *?
Me : Yes thats right

VO - Whats your designation?
Me : Senior Manager

VO - Whats your proposed salary?
Me - $ ZZZ,ZZZ / year

VO - What are your job duties?
Me - Started off with the first point when she interrupted...

VO - Who will you report to?
Me - Mr. **** Senior Vice president

VO - Who will he report to?
Me - Mr. **** * CEO

VO - What about your team?
Me - 8 direct reports at Managerial level and 11 indirect reports at Asst. Manager and Associate levels

VO - So is this team already set up at this location?
Me - Yes.

VO started stamping the I-129 S and said your visa is approved!

Luck plays a part but nothing can beat preparation and confidence too. Do reach out to me in case of any questions.

Three things matters:
1. Good company (preferably not Indian)
2. Good experience in that company
3. Its not a service based company like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, HCL etc. Which creates a doubt in VO officer for misuse of VISA class.

My interview was on 5th Feb at 11.30 am, going in was breeze. All lines were non existent until the last one, where you could hear all people speaking on mics.

Believe me or not guys, in my stay of almost 1 hour inside the consulate, I only saw 4/5 families or individuals going out with smiling face. No matter what B1/ L1 Blanket or L1 individual, I saw VO rejecting all the VISA's and all going out with green slips.

I saw interview going easily for 5+ minutes for almost everyone. Few guys interview was over after 4 questions, however all those guys got rejected right away.

My interview went for almost 8-10 mins I guess, innumerable questions I guess, somewhere around 20-25 questions. She was looking for even a small answer where she can create a doubt. VO kept changing my answers on its own and kept saying you said that earlier.

I felt it was all pre-meditated, I didn't saw even a single person getting visa from that counter. She even rejected L1B individual petitions.

Experience from few other guys interviews:
1....Q. What is your manager role
Ans. Some business dev lead generator
VO: thats a funny title, are you sure... then she jokingly asks 1 more questions and rejects visa

2.... L1B approved petition
VO: I see your L1b blanket getting rejected earlier. In the current petition and previous petition, is your US proposed role is same?
Ans: Yes
VO: I assume in 2 months nothing much have changed in your roles and responsibilities overall
ans: yes
VO: then previous decision is final, rejected after 2 questions

I think all VO's on 5th Feb were in some bad mood, not sure if after US shutdown they were getting paid or not. I only saw 4-5 families getting VISA in almost 100-120 families appearing in that 1 hour. I might have missed many, while I was not paying attention to line.

Bad luck or bad day don't know. My VISA interview was very good, except for one question i answered all 20-25 questions flawlessly. When I got rejected, my wife couldn't believe it. Since she was listening to all the interviews and she can figure out people doing mistakes in answering and as a third person she heard mine too. We both were 100% confident that I will get VISA, since interview was great VO couldn't find any mistake. However, at last she said clearly not approvable.

For many people VO's were saying L1 is not the correct VISA you should apply for H1.
Guys its totally a luck, who you get and what happens. For me I felt she started with an intention to not give and went on went on until she got a slightest of idea to create a doubt and reject.

Few interviews for other people went even for 15-20 mins, they had ample time to play with everyone I guess. All slots had not more than 30-35 people. So 30-35 ppl in 15 mins slot divided by 8 VO's. Thats avg 4 mins, with few people interview getting over in 1-2 mins, this time goes easily for 5-8 mins for rest of the guys.

Let me summarize in a few words. After completing the biometrics on Feb 4th, we just spent the entire day at some malls. On Feb 5th we had the appointment at 9am and as everyone, we also went 15 mins early and they lt you in at right time.

After arranging the documents in a specific order, they ask for the Fraud Detection service fee, and then you will join the regular queue.

VO: What is your role here?
Me: Senior ****

VO: Will you continue to be in same role in the US?
Me: Yes Sir.

VO: What is your Salary in the US?
Me: xxx,xxx

VO: What is your expertise, explain in non-technical terms?
Me: I did tell him saying, its the proprietary tools that i devloped will be used to integrate customers etc etc.

VO: How many people are there in your org/team here?
Me: 40

VO: Did you develop the tools and products on your own?
Me: Yes.

VO: Did you develop all of them?
Me: I probably fumbled here, and said yes but not all of them.

VO: Did you travel in Business Visa and stayed for 2 months?
Me: Yes, it was in 2011 for business reasons.

VO: There is nothing wrong here, but due to certain specific US rules I will have to ask you to reach out to your HR, and they will know what to do!!’, It is not a denial but clearly not approvable.

Experts can comment, about their opinions whether L1B Individual might help here?

First, a big thank you to this forum for the countless experiences documented. These experiences greatly aided my application & interview process. My L1A Ind. was approved in Hyderabad on Jan 31. Below is my experience:

Profile: 19+ years experience in product development, medical devices (non IT), employer invented the portable pacemaker, largest medical devices company, US Masters Degree (Mech.), 6+ years as engineering manager in India org and proposed to be a Program Manager in the US org.

Dec 15 - Jan 7: Lawyers collected a boatload of documents and put the petition in place
Jan 8: Company Immigration Team Signed Off
Jan 9: Courier sent to USCIS, CA
Jan 10: Package reached USCIS, receipt by email. PP opted
Jan 11 (EoD): L1A Petition approved
Jan 15: Petition dispatched to company lawyer
Jan 18: Company lawyer sent the petition and original I797 to me
Jan 27: Biometrics @ Hyderabad; me, my wife and my 3 year old son
Jan 31: Visa Interview

The fact that I had a kid, didn't give me any special privileges. I went through the same line as everyone else. Entered the consulate at 8.45 am for 9 am appointment. First, went through finger print verification - all good there.

Next was the line for the interview, a good 15 mins and nervousness before I appear in front of a young lady, the VO. She had approved 2 H1 and rejected 1 F1 ahead of me. By this time, my son was a bit playful and wanted attention

Me: Good morning ma'm, handed our passports
VO: Good morning

Kiddo wants to know what is the VO typing on the computer, she was busy typing a bunch of stuff. Kiddo wanted to sit on the counter and the VO was smiling big and told that do whatever it takes to make the little one happy.

VO: What company do you work for?
Me: M....ic

VO: Oh, do you guys make the pacemaker?
Me: Big smile, yes!!

VO smiles and types

Kiddo asks, what color nailpolish is aunty wearing. Wife asks kiddo, take a guess...he guesses right, Brown. VO is smiling and laughing at the playful banter, says that the kiddo is right

VO: Whats your designation in the India org
Me: Engineering Manager - Cardiac & Diabetes

VO: Reports in India?
Me: 18

VO: Reports in the US, proposed
Me: Indirect 50.

All this time, she is smiling and typing, checking for stuff on her work desk. By now, the kiddo is restless. VO says, we are over in just a minute

VO to my wife: How long have you been married?
Wife: 11 years and our anniversary was on Jan 18
VO: Oh Congratulations!

VO: Sir, Ma'm your visas have been approved and you will get them in a few days time.
Me & Wife: Thank you ma'm

VO and kiddo wave each other bye

We're out by 9.35 am and visit the temple, thank God for the very very easy interview. Big sigh of relief

Jan 31: Checking on CEAC, says "Admin Processing"
Feb 1: Status changed to "Issued" for all 3

Now, waiting for the passports to be delivered at the VAC :)

I fly out on Jan 10 to the US!