L1, L2 Visa

This forum helped me attend my interview confidently. Thanks to others who gave their experiences. My L1B was approved on 30 Jan.

Questions asked to me
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1. Company name
2. How long have you been working ?
3. What is your Salary ?
4. What are your roles and responsibilities india and US?

Questions asked to my wife
----
1. How long have you been married ?
2. Whats your kids age.

Interview done in 3-4 minutes. But stood in queue for 25 minutes, traversed multiple counters inside for about 15 - 20 minutes. Overall 1 hour.

OFC overall 20 minutes.

Other experience
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1. Reach not more than 20-30 minutes early. Its waste of time to stand in queue. I saw many babies crying and yelling in the queue. My 2 year old daughter was on a verge of a sudden outburst for not finding a Kinder joy anywhere in the queue. Luckily queue started moving by then and she got diverted.
2. I think I may have received priority in queue for having a kid over other applicants. May be just my assumption.
3. At OFC, for my kid one of the ear's was not visible clearly, so I had to take her photo once again and submit at the Visa consulate for scanning. It was such a waste of time. Make sure ears of your kids are properly visible in the photo.

It worked out well for me as Visa got approved. But I saw couples whose Visa got rejected and few crying as well. Felt really sorry for them. May be they get it next time.

Had my L1B interview today in Chennai on the 1st of Feb.
The process is well described in the other forum posts.

3 copies of I-29S, First page of I-797, DD for anti fraud fee (37k INR), DS 160 and passport of principal applicant have to be kept as a separate bundle before entering the interview room.

Follow the directions into the interview room and wait in line for your chance with the interview officer.

The following questions were asked to me -

VO: I see you had a previous passport that was lost/damaged, did it have any USA Visas on it?
Me: No, it did not. In fact my old passport had no visas of any country on it.

VO: Okay, where do you work currently?
Me: <Answered>

VO: What is your designation at your current place of work?
Me: <Answered>

VO: Where do you intend to work?
Me: <Answered>

VO: What do you do?
Me: <Answered>

VO: <Specific question about my product>
Me: <Surprised that he had heard of the company but answered>

VO: How many years of experience do you have with the product?
Me: <Answered>

Then he asked for my wife's passport, to her he asked the following two questions -

VO: How many years have you been married? Do you have any kids that also need a visa?

Finally the VO mentioned that the visa is approved and asked us to wait while he stamped the I-29S. He returned the stamped copies to us.

It was a smooth and efficient process. No need to be overly worried if your papers and credentials are in order.

All the best to all the other applicants.

My L1A blanket was rejected in March 2018. Though I had L1A blanket earlier and was in USA for two years in the past.
My company applied for L1A individual. Received RFE and got approval. Consulate appointment was in Chennai and got approval in Jan 2019

Interview Experience:
Long waiting (In and out time of about 1 hour and 45 minutes) since I did not go with family.
Documents asked: Passport and I797

Questions:
1. Which type of visa?
2. Did you apply for blanket before? (did not dig further after I answered Yes)
3. For whom you would be working for?
4. Who is your client?
5. Which location in USA?
6. What will be your USA salary?
7. Are you married?
8. Do you have kids?

Your visa is approved :)

My L1 A individual case filed date is almost two month belfore the current case processing times published by USCIS for texas location.
Ref :- https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

My petition FIle date :- June 23rd 2018
Current receipt date of case inquiry for i129 texas location is :- Sep 3rd 2018

Which explains that it's "outside normal processing time", But my employer is saying that there is a glitch in USCIS site, which is autopublishing with out actual processing .

If you or some of your friends are running with same situatins Please do post here, I am in the assumption that i am lost in this USCIS world and something went wrong with my case.

Your experince may help me to get cheered up.Many thanks in adavnce.

Hi,

I got my visa done today. Just wanted to mention that please keep your electronic items like Cellphone and electronic watch at home. Please don't carry them with you. You won't be allowed to take them with you. There are no lockers. Also please don't carry water.

I have been following this very organized website since long time. So now, time to give back to this forum.

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Some info regarding my profile:
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I have total 13.8 years of experience in Technology Implementation Projects, specifically large scale ERP implementation projects of Oracle Applications/Oracle Cloud.

I had traveled to the US from FEB-2008 to DEC-2010 through L1B Blanket VISA using my previous employer which was one of the largest IT services firm that time. I believe getting US VISA that time was not as tough as what it's today.

After returning back India, I changed my employer and then new employer which is again one of the leading Consulting firm in the globe, very strong presence in US, filed my L1B Individual petition with USCIS in Premium Processing and got it Approved & VISA stamped but unfortunately never got a chance to travel using that. It was Approved from FEB-2014 to JAN-2017. After its expiry, firm decided to file extension but our attorney firm told that it can't be done since I never traveled using my L1B and had L status against that VISA, so they advised to file fresh petition again. So, it was filed in PP again and got denied this time. So, first shock of denial for me. By this time, my experience and roles & responsibilities had changed significantly & also promotion as Manager had happened. So Organization went ahead and L1A Blanket was initiated and I went to Chennai for interview along with my wife and year old son. It was denied in Interview with 221g slip mentioning not Clearly Approvable. This was another denial and big shock for me. After this, I decided to have 6 months gap before going for L1A Individual Petition immediately though Organization was insisting for it.
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Experience About L1A Individual
My L1A Individual petition was filed with USCIS on 17th OCT 2018 under Premium Processing & by God's grace didn't receive any RFE. It was Approved within a week's time i.e. on 24th OCT 2018 I had received email from our Attorney firm mentioning my Petition was Approved by USCIS Texas Service Center. I felt a BIG relief after 2 denials mentioned above. Next BIG step was to go for Stamping Interview. Petition Approval was kind of post dated may be because I had mentioned tentative travel plan in it, so it was Approved from DEC-2018.

My L1A Individual Stamping Interview was scheduled on 23rd Jan 2019, 22nd JAN 2019 was OFC. Both in Mumbai since that's where I stay. Most of the people have talked about OFC, so won't write much about it. Mumbai OFC has changed its location recently from previous center to a new location, new location is much closer to US Consulate, just 200 meters away from it. Only me & my wife went for OFC, didn't carry our son this time for OFC.

Stamping Interview was scheduled immediately next day (23rd JAN) at 10:00 AM. This time, I was accompanied by my wife & 2 years old son. We reached at 9:10 AM at Consulate and board over there was showing as "Now Serving 10:00 AM". We didn't rush but, got down from our car, arranged documents and then we went to Consulate. Suggestion if you are going to MUMBAI Consulate & OFC/VAC then you can carry your own car as there is ample pay & park facility available just beside Consulate, 50-70 meters away; from OFC it's 250 meters away. So you can leave all valuable items in your own car here.

After clearing Security in Consulate, we were asked to wait for couple of minutes in a waiting area and then staff there asked us to go to Counter no 39 directly. We went inside the building and there was a BIG queue already lined up. But looking at our baby, we were directly asked to sit near Counter 39 for few minutes, one of the staff personnel took our passports and called our names one after other and one of US Consular officers verified our PPs & Biometrics captured earlier day. Then we were asked to wait at same place for 5 more minutes.

After that staff personnel asked me to have all of our passports & copy of I-797B in hand and asked to go to one of the counters for interview. There was a BIG queue behind us but thanks to your son since we were allowed to skip entire queue and were given Premium treatment. :-) This had happened in Chennai too. So we went to Counter and waited before the line as there was an interview going on, probably L1B or H1B. I could clearly hear the questions and see VO from the line where we were waiting. She was middle aged lady with nice smile on her face and jolly enough to get rid of our pressure. Person's VISA was done and then we went to the window. My heart was beating like anything and was going through all the questions and answers I had prepared for it. Following is Interview communication brief:

Myself & wife greeted to VO, Good Morning Madam..

VO: Good Morning.. Waived to my 2 years old son and tried to talk with him. He was just smiling.
VO: Please provide your passports & I797 copy.
I handed over all 3 passports & copy of I-797B.
VO: Whom do you work for?
Me: YYYY XX
VO: What do you do for them?
Me: Current Jobs & responsibilities.
VO: How long have you been working for them?
Me: 7.7 years
VO: What will be your salary in the US?
Me: ZZZ,ZZZ USD per annum
VO: How many people do you manage?
Me: In India or in the US?
VO: Both, overall I need to know.
Me: India: 55 & US: 39
VO: In US 13?
Me: Nope, not 13; 39
VO: Oh, ok. got it. Good.
VO: Which client are you working for at the moment?
Me: I manage multiple client engagements as part of my job, so do you need to know my current client I am working for on a project?
VO: Yes please.
Me: Answered name of the client, it's the same which is mentioned in petition supporting documents too.
VO: Give me a few minutes & I will be back. She closed the window from where we hand over the documents & took our passports & I-797B copy inside.
Now, this is where I started worrying as I almost had similar experience in my L1A Blanket in Chennai. My wife asked me to be cool and not to assume/worry anything until we know for sure.
VO came back in a minute's time and handed over me I-797B copy and mentioned:
VO: Please take this back. I took it back and kept it inside my folder.
She was going through something on computer & my heart was pumping BIG time. :-)
VO: I am sorry but it's my computer which is taking so long to respond, so please bear with me. (I read similar experience/response from VO on this site)
Me: No problem madam, I can understand. It's fine.
After a minute's silence.. GOLDEN words came out..
VO: I am Approving your VISAs & you should be getting your passports back within 3-5 business days with VISA. Have a Good Day & waived bye to my son.
We: Thanks a lot madam, you too have a good day. My son waiver her bye sweetly and she enjoyed it and returned it with thanks.

I checked status same day on CEAC website & it was showing Administrative Processing for all 3 applications. But I wasn't worried much because VO clearly told it's Approved & there was no 221g leaflet handed over to us. Next day, status changed to "Issued" and passports were "Ready for Pickup" by same day evening. Never received SMS alert though it was mentioned in DS-160 application.
I went next day to OFC (same building of biometrics) for passport collection. Please ensure to carry photocopy (PP is also fine, they accept that), original ID proofs (DL, PAN, Aadhar) Authority Letter even if you are going to collect for wife they need it.

Overall, a very good experience in stamping interview. I was not much nervous but yes to some extent tensed for sure though this was not the first time I had gone for US VISA stamping interview. But as they say, it's always FIRST time when you go for US VISA stamping interview. :-)

Suggestions:
1. Please don't be disappointed if Blanket is rejected in the interview. I think BLANKET has lately very high rejection ratio and probably because within 2-3 minutes it's completely on VOs discretion based on interview & all things might not go well in it. For Individual petition, I believe VO already knows that case has already been thoroughly evaluated and he/she just have to verify the information in it from the candidate. So there is always a next chance for going for Individual petition.
2. Prepare your supporting documents very well for Individual petition and be aware of what's going on inside it if you have Attorneys doing it for you based on information provided by you.
3. Prepare stamping interview very well even though Individual petition is Approved. You need to be aware of your I-129S inside out.
4. Practice mock sessions. If there is no such facility in organization then do it with your family.
5. Be aware of what you write in DS-160. It should be aligned with the information in your I-797B, I-129S & Supporting docs provided for petition approval. E.g. Salary, jobs & responsibilities etc.
6. Be confident during interview & please ensure to make eye contact with VO clearly throughout interview.
7. Please ensure to have some impactful summary statements about your jobs and responsibilities. E.g. for L1A, to demonstrate Managerial & Hire/Fire authority. And again, it should be aligned with your earlier supporting documents.

I know this is a BIG experience but wanted to ensure I capture almost all the details. :-) If you need any other details then please don't hesitate to contact me. I will respond as soon as I can.

Thanks & all the best...!!!

Hi All,

First and foremost I would like to thank all the members of the forum for contributing with their experience which has helped us a lot in getting through with the visa.

I work for a well know MNC at Sr. Manager level with 7 Years exp with the org and overall 14+ yrs exp. Have good Indian salary and have offer for decent US salary.

Had applied under L1A Blanket petition.

I have completed my Biometric in Mumbai along with my spouse and Kid ( 4y old). Was a 10 min job in and out. Won’t go in depth of this as it covered in various post.

The latest date for visa interview available was 24th Jan’19 so booked it.

Booked my flight for arriving on 23rd so as to get settled as was travelling with my 4 Yr old Son. Booked hotel Spring near US consulate, Big mistake as the hotel is old and stinky, regretted not booking Park instead. BIG NO to anyone planning to book it. Ignored the hotel as wanted to concentrate on the Visa Interview.

Visited US consulate on 23rd and inquired with the security on the entry point and tips for the interview next day. They were very cooperative and advised that I should arrive 15-20 min before interview. No electronics are allowed. Normal (not smart watch) allowed, I took mine.

Day of interview:

Interview was scheduled at 9.45AM.

Reached near the gate at 9.10AM , where a two parallel big queue were formed, I stood in the line and the ppl waiting in front were for 9.15 batch. The parallel queue was for 9.30 batch. Thanks to winter it was pleasant, even in my Jacket. I waited in the queue for about 15 min. When one of the gentlemen announced ppl from 9.45 to form a queue ( I was already in one). Then he checked for ppl with kids and asked us to proceed towards the gate.

Once we entered, there was security check. Post that there was a guy who asked the visa category L1 or H1. As I was L1 I was asked to wait where one of their staff separated I129S and I797 ( front sheet) all three sets and attached to my passport. Then I was directed to the free counter wherein I paid the Fraud protection fee USD 500, by my credit card. The Guy directed me to next counter where my and my wife’s finger prints were verified.

There was huge queue or the interview, however, the embassy staff asked me to sit at the far end, where another guy intervened and asked me to go and stand at counter 21. I literally went to the yellow line where interview of the person in front of me was almost concluded. His visa was approved.

Next was my turn, the entire process was moving so fast that I had no time to feel any anxiety.

Next was my turn. We walked in front to the VO and the conversion is as follows:

VO: Good Morning
Me: Good morning, how are you doing?

VO: I am good, how are you? ( with smile)
Me: I am good thank you.

VO: So which company are your working for?
ME: Named my company

VO: How long have you been working for them?
Me: 6yrs 6 months

VO: Where in US will you be working?
Me: Named the location and state

VO: Whats your US salary?
Me: ZZZ,ZZZ USD + Individual performance bonus

VO: Whats your designation?
Me: Senior Manager

VO: Who will you report to in US, designation?
Me: Director

VO: How many direct Reportees? ( This was the dreaded question which I feared as I do not have direct reportee as mine is a Functional Manager role)
Me: Explained mine is a Functional manager role and I manage cross functional team through their peoples manager. (A note here is that I framed my DS job description to cover, recommending appraisal, leave etc of professional ppl)

VO: Questions to my wife
1. How long have been married?
2. How old is your kid?
3. Question related to her lost passport and whether it had US visa on it

While all this he was always very pleasant and smiling, also continuously typing.

After the last question to me, I had severe palpation. However, within 10 sec the officer took the stamp and I was relived and then the golden words.

“Your visa is approved have a safe trip” returned 2 copies of the stamped I-129S to me.

I was formally dressed and had put my Jacket (no tie), this gives a good impression for the position being applied for ( my personal view)

In all I was in and out within 20 Mins. Due to the fact that we were with our kid. The feeling didn’t sink in till we were out of the Embassy.

The passport was dispatched on 25th and I have received it today.

Hope the post helps!!!

Hi

My L1B interview scheduled at Chennai.

i already filled DS160 and taken a visa appointment.

while filling DS 160 i mentioned intended length of stay is 2 years.

but on petition and on supporting documents duration is 3 years.

if VO ask me about duration.. what should i say?

Hello Everyone,

Firstly, I would like to thank this forum and the members who have shared their experiences. It helped me a lot for getting to know about the L1B visa appointment process and the frequently asked questions, which helped me during my preparation.
I had my L1 blanket visa interview scheduled on 24th Jan and the visa is approved.
The questions that were asked to me were:

1. Which company?
2. Place, duration of stay and salary in US.
3. Asked to describe briefly about my role and work.
4. Why am I going to US and why only me.
5. Asked if i have already started working on the project or i will start in US.

Suggestions:

1. To know and be clear for the reason you are going to US, why the role cannot be performed by someone already in US company, why only you and why can't you do the same job from here.
2. Understand the questions asked by the officer well, be confident and clear in your answers. Try to answer to the point and answer in an easy to understand way.
3. And as said several times in the forum, dress formally and neatly.

All the best to everyone and be positive!

It's my time to give back to this forum. Several people have written wonderful, very detailed posts that I used for my preparation here: https://www.immihelp.com/experience/360714-Experience-in-Calgary.html; https://www.immihelp.com/experience/343864-Calgary-Experience.html and here https://www.immihelp.com/experience/142736-Calgary-L1A-stamping-experience.html. These posts give you an exact idea of what to expect at the consulate and I don't have anything additional to add with regards to that so I will jump right to the questions asked:

Little about me: Went to school in the US and non-IT background.

Questions asked were as follows:
Confirmed the college I went to in the US (not really a question)
How long I have been working for the foreign company.
How long I have been working with my firm (I had experience both in Canada and the US so answered accordingly)
Reportees in the US

Appointment: 1/23 AM
Status Changed to Issued: 1/25 around 11 AM
Received email with tracking: 1/25 around 2 PM

I did not see any rejections while I was there but I also wasn't listening at all to what was going on at other counters so as not to stress myself out needlessly.

A few things to suggest:

1) If this is important to you (and it was to me), really prepare for this - it is not a small company interview. I read at least 100+ pages in the forums, prepared a list of every possible question from them and from other sources and rehearsed over and over for almost 3 months. I was also fortunate in that my firm arranged for a prep call with the immigration lawyers who walked me through the process and the type of questions to expect. I would agree with other posters that whether you get the visa or not depends to an extent on chance. However, if you don't get the visa, it should never be due to anything you could have done and left undone.

2) Dress formally, it does show that you care enough about the interview to make that effort.

3) Take any document that you could conceivably be asked for. I followed the advice of the poster in the link below and took all the documents he had suggested. I was not asked for any of them but knowing that I had them and could produce them as evidence really helped me a lot.
https://www.immihelp.com/experience/other-experiences-post-london321-1.html?

4) Lastly and most importantly, have faith in God.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to answer them.