Hello,
Late 20s female here from VWP country, who had previously overstayed 1 day by mistake on ESTA 3 years ago. Stupid, stupid I know!! Reading this forum was very helpful, so I wanted to share my experience.
My interview was early in the morning, i arrive 15 mins early and the embassy is packed out. Went through security clearance, checked in where I had my fingerprints scanned. Then I lined up in a queue leading to two open booths. You can literally hear everyone's interviews before you, which was quite terrifying!!! One officer seemed very casual- smiled lots, stamped approvals more often than not. On the other hand, the other officer was bit more stern, asking lots of detailed questions and turned people down a LOT. I felt bad for the guy before me who had IT conference coming up, with his ticket booked, proof of income and everything.. The CO continued to ask questions abt his salary, while flicking through his resume. I was praying to the Lord like, please please don't let him interview me!! But then guess what... Next came my turn! And he called out to me!!! What happened next is as follows:
Me: *Nervously approaching* mornin'!
VO: Good morning. Let's see your passport
Me: *hands it over*
VO: So why do you want to visit USA?
Me: well, for tourism and leisure.
VO: *typing* What do you do for living?
Me: I have a small business where I resell vintage clothes and I also work as a freelancer for abc industry.
(Ok I was so nervous I mumbled and talked really fast here- he suddenly like, laughed and asked me to repeat myself again, which I did lol.)
VO: Ok. How long have you been at your current job for?
Me: I am a freelancer and I've been at my current job for last 2 months. I have good contacts in my industry tho, where I'm able to pick up work on constant basis and travel in between jobs.
VO: Ok. Your application says that you stayed 91 days last time. Can you tell me more about that?
Me: Yes! Last time I was there, i wanted to get the most out of my travels and pushed my dates to what I thought was the allowable limit. I am really, really sorry. This was an extremely stupid thing to do. This won't happen again. I know travelling to USA is a privilege and by submitting a b1/b2 app, I really wanted to make things right.
VO: Yeah. *types* Cool.
And how long will you be travelling?
Me: well, probably 4-5 weeks-
VO: *types*
Ok your visa is approved and will be mailed to you in the next few days.
Me: OMG thank youuu!
So... there it is! I was so nervous my hands were dripping with sweat as I waited in line. I am so so so happy now though. I mean, I had all the red flags- single 20s female traveller, past overstay, also history of work visa in USA, unstable work, not that big a income. But I feel like being honest and ernstly expressing that you are genuinely sorry helped... Oh and waiting as long as I could, before attempting to travel to USA. The officer didn't look at any of my documents, which I thought was weird as he was going through them for some of the interviews before me. Anyways I just wanted to share my experience for some of yall that may be in a similar situation to me. I hope this is helpful! Happy to answer questions.