Business Visa - B1

Hi All,

Following are the questions and answers i had prepared for my interview.
I thought of sharing them with you guys as it could be helpful for some of you and gives you an brief idea about what to say and what not to.
Based on your requirments you have to change the answers.
These are not the only questions which may be asked during the interview there could be more, do your part of the research.
All the best. feel free to ask the questions if you have any and also add them in the reply section as it may benefit someone.
PS: If there are any grammatical mistake or spelling mistake please neglect it.

1. What is the purpose of your travel?
To be part of several business meetings related to our financial project in health care domain.
(modify it as per your requirements)

2. Which company?
COMPANY (Complete Company Name as per DS 160)

3. Which City?
CITY, STATE (Give both city and state name)

4. How long?
2 Weeks (2 weeks is an ideal duration)

5. Your designation?
DESIGNATION (Proper Designation as per DS 160)

6. Your experience?
Total of YYYY X years, with current organization YYYY X years

7. Why you are travelling?
I have been part of this project ever since it began with COMPANY so with my understnading over the period of time i will be able to provide some of my inputs during the discussion which could lead to the betterment of our project.

8. Why cant you attend from here through calls or mails?
We do have conversation over mails and calls but since our project is related to Financial part its bit critical.
Also,My physical presence over there would have better impact and it will be an opportunity for me to know them in person and their culture as they get to interact with the clients more closely.

9. Why they cant come here, why you have to go?
COMPNAY is headquatered in CITY and lots of higher management associate will also attend these meetings so they have scheduled the meeting in CITY.

10. How big is your team?
We are currently YYYY X members.

11. Who and all you are going to meet there?
All the names and their designations (better do not give Indian names)

12. Will you be working there?
No

13. Will you get paid anything there?
No

14. Will you stay back if required there?
No

15. What if you have to stay back for few more days?
We have planned our agend in such a way that we will be covering everything in specified amount of time so i do not think there will be a need for me to stay back there.

16. Are you nervous? (If this question comes that means you are looking nervous)
Yes a bit because of seeing some many people and the lots of strict procedure i got bit nervous but now i am pretty fine (Give a smile)

17. Will you visit any places there?
I get one weekend off during my visit and if i get an opportunity i would love to visit near by places such as (Check few places near by the CITY you are visiting such as museums and zoos)

18. What does COMPANY do?
COMPANY is a multinational service provider company, it operates in YYYY countries with more then YYYY associates across.

19. What does your project do?
(Briefly explain your project, dont say you work say i am part of PROJECT project)
Try not to utter WORK, KNOWLEDGE, PRESENTATION, TRAINING for the entier interview.
In this document also i have not included if there are any then replace it with appropriate word.

20. What were you doing in previous company?
(Previous company project and designation)

21. Will you come back to India?
Yes

22. What gurantee you can give me that you will come back to India?
I have fixed permanent job here and also i have my family here, I cant leave without them

23. Do you have any relative in US?
No

24. Are you married?
No (You can say parents are looking for bride if you want)

25. When you will be travelling?
Dates what they have given in COMPANY Inviation letter.
Check the flight details such as flight name, cost, route of travell, dates, time etc. (both back and forth)

26. Have you planned your travel?
Yes

27. Have you booked your ticket?
Not yet, I will be booking once i have Visa approval

28. Who will pay for your visit?
COMPANY NAME

29. Where will you stay?
HOTEL NAME (As per DS 160. Also, remember the ditance from hotel to your company)

30. How will this visit benefit you and your company?
I will get to know how we have impacted our clients over the period of time and what are our future plans so we can process towards it.

31. What will you do on your return?
I will continue with normal routine but i will know what are our future plans so we can process towards it.

32. Is anyone else travelling with you?
No

33. Why you are travelling why not your manager?
My Manager is relatively new to project and i have been part of this project for long time so with my understnading over the period of time i will be able to provide some of my inputs during the discussion which could lead to the betterment of the project.

34. Have you been to US before?
No

35. From which port you will enter US?
Take some big city name (Like Chicago, New York etc.)

36. How will you travell from one place to another?
COMPANY will provide me cab facilities.

37. Why are you travelling at this point of time?
Intially the project was not stable and we had some issues but now its pretty stable and we want to expand to more clients and we will discuss what are some of future plans and also how to tackel some of the issues we are seeing and optimize it and enhance it.

38. Have you booked your tickets?
No

39. What are the expenses you will be expecting to incur on this visit?
I am not very sure as COMPANY will be taking care of the expenses.

40. Have you travelled abroad before this trip?
No

41. Why do you wish to stay for so long? Can’t you plan a shorter trip?
We have planned our agenda and since we will be discussing wide variety of things we need 2 weeks to discuss all the topics.

42. The people who you are going to meet have they visited India?
No

43. Where do you stay in India?
CITY in INDIA

44. Have you applied for leave?
No

45. Do you own a credit card?
Yes

46. What are these meetings about?
We will be mainly discussing how we have impacted clients over the period of time and how we can reach out to more client.
We will also discuss what are some of the issues we are facing and how to tackle it and what are some of the future plans.

46. Whats your role in these meetings?
During the discussion based on my understanding, I will provide some my inputs which could lead to the betterment of the project and also I will know what are some the future plans we have.
 
Thanks and Regards,
From the long-lost cave somewhere in Bangalore,
CAUSE I AM BATMAN

Hi, I would be applying for B1 in few days. I would be travelling to California and Houston, to attend training from my employer and some third party.

What should be my purpose of travel ?

I had a work permit for SWEDEN from my previous employer. It doesn't show up on passport because its maintained as a card. Only time,date and place stamping is there. While in Sweden, I had also visited Paris and Geneva for vacation.
I had stated on my DS 160 that I had been to Sweden and other places.

Do you see work permit as a factor which could falter my chances of getting B1 ?

HI Guys ,
Lat week I attended in Visa interview in Chennai but its rejected
So when can I Re-apply ?
Is there any time line is there to re-apply ?
Company is asking me to Re-Apply because I need to travel to client place
what are the extra questions they may ask related last time rejection ?

My Interview Experience:
VO : Why you are travelling to USA ?
Me : to conduct series of business discussions with client.
VO : Who is your client ?
Me: Told client (AAAAAA)
VO : Which place you are travelling ?
Me: I told Client place as well as my headquarters company location but in DS-160 Mentioned my headquarters location so its different location
VO : why your travelling to your headquarters ?
Me: to meet internal planned meetings with our Onsite team.
VO : if onsite team is there why u travelling there?
me: I told last 3 years i m working on that project ,so I have better knowledge then others so am travelling.
Vo Sorry sir Try next time and she given 214-B form.

Guys reply fast what mistake i did there ?
when can i re-apply ?
If i apply they will ask y u rejected last time ? what i need to answer for that ?
Reply guys fast ...

Thanks in advance.

 

Hello All,

First of all, a big thank you to all of those sharing their experiences. It helped me a lot in preparing for my interview.

My background - I am an Indian citizen and I previously had a US F1 visa from 2013 which I surrendered on Feb 1, 2018. I am now in Canada and applied for the B1/B2 from Montreal consulate.

Experience: It was a fairly quick interview.

VO - (Looking at my student visa in my old pp) Are you still a student ?
ME - No, I graduated in May 2015.

VO - Have you ever faced any problems at a US border ?
ME - I said 'No' and then I explained to her about my recent flagpolling experience - where I entered US and withdrew my entry to activate my Canada visa.

VO - What countries you've visited in the last 5 years ?
ME - US, Canada and Mexico

VO - So you've visited US, Canada, India and Mexico ?
ME - No, sorry only US, Canada, Mexico. (I realized the mistake that I missed India cos its been like 4 years and I had missed the same in DS160 also).

VO - Not India ?
ME - Then I remembered about my trip in Jan 2014 and I said 'yes' and sorry I completely forgot about it. (With a little smile on my face and lot of fear in my heart that I screwed up).

VO - Ok, your VISA is approved and you should hear back in the next 3-4 business days.
ME - Thank you (I just ran out straight away)

All this happened within like 3-4 minutes. No documents or purpose of the visit asked. I am going there for business meetings and had invitation letter etc.

All the best to future applicants and thanks again for your inputs. Keep doing the good work !!

I am an American citizen living and working as a professor at a university in China on a three-year contract. Before and after getting married to my 38-year old Chinese wife in China last year, she applied for and was denied a B1/B2 visa three times for no specific reason. We have now been married for one year, we are both members of Kiwanis International and my wife and I would very much like to attend the Annual Kiwanis International Convention to be held in Las Vegas, NV June 28 - July 1. To date, there are no Kiwanis Clubs in China so she would be the first member from China to ever attend the convention. She owns our 3-bedroom home and car in China, continues to have a total of more than $30,000 in her five bank accounts in China for the past five years, runs her own business out of our home selling skin care products for the past 12 years, is very integrated into her community through her city-wide running club of more than 300 members, a city-wide Writer's Guild of more than 100 members, and the city-wide qi pao club of more than 200 members for the past several years. She is well connected and needed in her city and outlying villages. She is the eldest family member of three children, one of only two drivers in her family, and continues to help her family financially and otherwise whenever needed. Within the past few months, our Kiwanis club has worked to begin a project of starting a reading program to five middle schools located in our city and surrounding rural areas by providing sets of reading books to disadvantaged schools and spending time reading to the children on a frequent and periodic basis. Because my wife has never attended one of the annual conventions in the past and it provides numerous training events that are included throughout the five-day convention, we both believe this would be an excellent opportunity for her to learn and gather information to bring back with her to China for expanding the presence of Kiwanis in China as its first Kiwanis club and growing our own club. We have contacted the convention office and they told us they will send the formal invitation letter to the US Embassy as soon as she registers for the convention. However, my wife is very afraid that she will be denied again after already spending a lot of money for the non-refundable fee, travel, and hotel expenses to go for her interview. She really wants to attend the convention this year, but need to know if it is worth her time to apply again. Her past attempts resulted in the officer telling her she needs to apply for the spouse visa, but my contract ends in July of next year and I plan to renew it for at least another year so that we can continue our work here in China with the University and our Kiwanis club. What are her chances of getting the visa and what suggestions do you have for her?

I had my B1/B2 visa interview on 23rd Feb 2018 and here is how it went.

Mumbai 10 AM slot.

VO: Passport please.
Me: Good Morning. Here they are.

VO: Why do want to go to the States.(While handing over the old passport back to me)
Me: Business Meetings and Customer Trainings(invitation letter is for customer training and hence the same).

VO: Will you be receiving the training?
Me: No. I'll be giving the training.

VO: Training on what?
Me: We have recently created a product XYZ for our clients which I will be Training them on.

VO: How long were you in the UK?
Me: 28 days for the first time and 18 days for the second time.

VO: I am sorry but I cannot approve your Visa today. You can apply again.
Me: Thank you. (Totally baffled and lost)

I am still not sure what went wrong but I suspect that my DS 160 mentioned Business Meetings and while answering I answered Product Training as well which is the basic reason for my rejection. I am a Project Manager and have been to UK(twice) on Business Visa.

Thoughts?

Hi,

My company wants me to reapply(Rejected in last year) for B1 visa. But they wants me to apply from Kolkata while I am staying at noida (near to delhi consulate). So I have some questions in my mind:

If I will apply for Kolkata location then VO can ask me why did you not applied for Delhi location as it was near by to my home and office address. What would be the best answer in this scenario? Please suggest.

Hi,

I have my visa interview on 6-March, where I have the following doubts if someone can help me on:

1. I have mentioned a stay of 4 weeks in US in my DS160 form from 5-March to 2-April, but in between I got sick and had to be admitted in hospital. Now, because my employer pays the visa fees after filing of DS160 (which I filled before my hospitalization), they take a week to process that fees. When they completed the payment, I was already in the hospital. So I could not schedule my VISA interview dates. When I got discharged from the hospital and sat to schedule the appointments, I saw the first available date was 6-March which was falling after the "date of arrival in US" of 5-March as mentioned in the DS160 form. Will this be an issue in the interview? How to best deal with this if asked?

2. I work in a reputed MNC company in India and have 3.5 years of experience as a software engineer. Now, I am a Senior SW Engineer (involved in testing of software) with an annual package of INR 7 Lakhs. I am actually going to receive a training for 4 weeks on a new hardware and software that our team in US have recently finished designing. Is it an issue to say about "training"? If yes, should I mention something else? Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

My total work experience is 3 Years 4 Months.In current company (product based) 1 year completed.I have applied for Business Visa (B1).I got invitation letter for training with entire schedule.But in this forum I have seen most of rejecting cases are for training.Can you please help me the best answers for "Purpose of visiting to US" & "If seniors are there why you are going" and any other critical questions with best answers.

Hi all,

Thanks to all who has shared their experience in this forum. I was following up with this forum two days before and got ready with the different questions , had a mock interview to my self with all the questions. I got 90 % of the questions which I have prepared from this forum. It builds your confidence.

For 0945 Slot, I reached there by 0900 and stood in the line. Its not needed, but better to be there instead of getting tensed.

Me : Good Morning.
VO: Good Morning. Your passport please.

VO: (By going through the pages in Passport. I was having L1B in my previous company and it got expired long back). Are you still in <<Previous Company>>
Me : No. Now I work for <<Current Company>>.

VO: What is the purpose of your travel
Me: Business discussion with Client.

VO: Who is the client
Me: <<Client Name>>

VO:
What is the product you are working on
   We will discuss on challenges and how to. deal it
   Will you be a part of design discussions
    No only about the challenges we have and how to deal on the current version of the product
What is the product you after going to work with?
What is salary per Annum
Married?
Are you going with your family?
Why you want to go there and not other members
How long you have been working in this project
Is the internal meeting or external?
At what level from clients are comingHi all,

Thanks to all who has shared their experience in this forum. I was following up with this forum two days before and got ready with the different questions , had a mock interview to my self with all the questions. I got 90 % of the questions which I have prepared from this forum. It builds your confidence.

For 0945 Slot, I reached there by 0900 and stood in the line. Its not needed, but better to be there instead of getting tensed. I have already been twice to US under L1B visa in the previous organization.

Me : Good Morning.
VO: Good Morning. Your passport please.

VO: (By going through the pages in Passport. I was having L1B in my previous company and it got expired long back). Are you still in <<Previous Company>>
Me : No. Now I work for <<Current Company>>.

VO: What is the purpose of your travel
Me: Business discussion with Client.

VO: Who is the client
Me: <<Client Name>>

VO: What is the product you are working on
Me: Told about the product.

VO : What will be discussed in this meeting
ME : We will discuss on challenges and how to deal it.

VO: Will you be a part of design discussions
ME : No only about the challenges we have and how to deal on the current version of the product

Vo: What is salary per Annum
Me: X per annum

Vo: Married?
ME : Yes

Vo : Are you going with your family?
Me : No. I go alone

Vo : Why you want to go there and not other members
Me : I have been in this product for past 4 and half years. Right from the Day 1 in the <<Current Company>> .

Vo: How long you will be having meeting there.
Me : two weeks.

Vo: How long you have been working in this project
Me : For the past 4 and half years.

Vo : Is the internal meeting or external?
Me : External. We will meet with few people from <<Client>> and discuss about the current challenges and how to improvise on it

Vo: Which city you will be travelling to ?
Me: <<City>>

Vo : how many people are there in your team here?
Me : 10

Vo: What's your designation
Me: <<My Designation>>

Vo: At what level from clients are coming
Me : Director and above.

Vo: What language you use in your product ( Strange , I didn't expect )
Me: <<Language we use>>

Vo : what IDE you use in your product ( Again Strange, I didn't expect)
Me : <<IDE we use>>.

Vo : Visa got approved.
Me : Thank you very much and Have a great day.

Not all the questions are in sequence. Given almost all.

Tips:
1. Look straight to his eyes.
2. Be confident. ( You act confident, You will be in reality)
3. I wore Full formals (Plain white shirt and Clean shaven) and that makes a lot of difference.
4. Go through this forum for two days before the Visa interview.
5. DOn't ever say that you are in requirement, or design or implementation or Training . Have the answer around business like business discussion / challenges / improve like that.

Other Questions I prepared from this Forum:
What will be the port of entry ?
what is the meeting date ?
When is the start and end date of the travel ?
Have you travelled abroad earlier ?
what is the agenda for each and every day ?
Do you get any remuneration while you stay in US from Paypal ?
Who will be taking care of the expenses during the stay ?
How you can guarantee that you will return ?
how will you / your company benefit from these meetings ?
what is your role in your current project ?
What is your role in previous organization ?
where you are staying ?

My best Wishes.