B1 Denied with 214(b) form

[ysrikanth_mca]

Hello All,
posting my experience here which might be useful for one of you.

I had appointment for Oct 5 & 6th.

Oct 5th : Finger print & Bio metric - you can reach 30 mins before your given time.the whole process will not take more than 30 mins.you just need to carry your passport,Application Confirmation page and DS-160.until you have some errors in the DS 160 the process is simple.i didnt had any errors in DS 160 so the process completed in 30 mins.they will put one sticker on your passport.

Oct 6: Reached Embassy at 7:30 itself though my appointment time is 8:30 am.they allowed from 8 AM.you will not be allowed to carry any other items other than your passport and visa related documents.so please dont carry any mobile or other unnecessary items.

After all the security checks you will need to enter in the queue where they will check your passport and fingerprints and mark on the sticker which you have been provided on the fist day.

then you will be directed to Visa Officer.

my counter number was 28.his age was around 35 years.the Interview went as follows:

Visa Officer : Next Candidate please
Me: Good Morning.
Vs:No Response but asked"can i have your passport".
Me : handed over my passport to him

VO: what is the purpose of the travel?
Me: To Participate in Business meetings and requirements discussions.

Vo: which company you are working?
Me:ZZZ,one of the largest telecom company in US.

Vo:why you are going?
Me:I have been in this project from the starting and have relevant experience.

VO: How long you are with this company?
Me: 2 years with this company and overall 10 years exp.

Vo: Have you traveled to any other Country before?
Me: No

Vo: can i have your invitation letter?
Me: I dont have invitation letter as i am going to my parent company only not to any Client office.But i have travel plan.But he didnt ask me to show that.

Vo: whats your company provide services?
Me: Telecommunications and Data services.

Vo:Sorry,you are ineligible at this point and you can apply in the future and he returned my passport with green 214(b) form.

I am not very clear why it was rejected but guessing that i could have carried Invitation letter though it is not mandatory for B1.

Please provide your insight if you have any idea what went wrong.

Thanks.

[raghvi]

Hello All,
posting my experience here which might be useful for one of you.

I had appointment for Oct 5 & 6th.

Oct 5th : Finger print & Bio metric - you can reach 30 mins before your given time.the whole process will not take more than 30 mins.you just need to carry your passport,Application Confirmation page and DS-160.until you have some errors in the DS 160 the process is simple.i didnt had any errors in DS 160 so the process completed in 30 mins.they will put one sticker on your passport.

Oct 6: Reached Embassy at 7:30 itself though my appointment time is 8:30 am.they allowed from 8 AM.you will not be allowed to carry any other items other than your passport and visa related documents.so please dont carry any mobile or other unnecessary items.

After all the security checks you will need to enter in the queue where they will check your passport and fingerprints and mark on the sticker which you have been provided on the fist day.

then you will be directed to Visa Officer.

my counter number was 28.his age was around 35 years.the Interview went as follows:

Visa Officer : Next Candidate please
Me: Good Morning.
Vs:No Response but asked"can i have your passport".
Me : handed over my passport to him

VO: what is the purpose of the travel?
Me: To Participate in Business meetings and requirements discussions.

Vo: which company you are working?
Me:ZZZ,one of the largest telecom company in US.

Vo:why you are going?
Me:I have been in this project from the starting and have relevant experience.

VO: How long you are with this company?
Me: 2 years with this company and overall 10 years exp.

Vo: Have you traveled to any other Country before?
Me: No

Vo: can i have your invitation letter?
Me: I dont have invitation letter as i am going to my parent company only not to any Client office.But i have travel plan.But he didnt ask me to show that.

Vo: whats your company provide services?
Me: Telecommunications and Data services.

Vo:Sorry,you are ineligible at this point and you can apply in the future and he returned my passport with green 214(b) form.

I am not very clear why it was rejected but guessing that i could have carried Invitation letter though it is not mandatory for B1.

Please provide your insight if you have any idea what went wrong.

Thanks.

An invitation letter from the parent company with specific purpose of travel and dates would certainly have helped. Whats the duration of stay requested in the DS-160?

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[ysrikanth_mca]

Thank you very much for your reply.

In DS 160 i have mentioned the duration as "05 Nov 2016 to 05 Dec 2016".
I have requested my company to provide an Invitation Letter which was not provided to any B1 candidate before.Planning to attend interview again with Invitation letter.
Please suggest if you have any suggestions.

Thanks & regards,
Sri.

[raghvi]

Thank you very much for your reply.

In DS 160 i have mentioned the duration as "05 Nov 2016 to 05 Dec 2016".
I have requested my company to provide an Invitation Letter which was not provided to any B1 candidate before.Planning to attend interview again with Invitation letter.
Please suggest if you have any suggestions.

Thanks & regards,
Sri.

1 Month for business meeting and requirement discussion without an invitation letter/meeting calendars seems long. VO may think that you are actually working there, especially if one goes through a services company. Plus it is advisable to be more specific in terms of purpose rather than a generic " Business meetings and requirements discussions" statement.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[ysrikanth_mca]

Thank you

1 Month for business meeting and requirement discussion without an invitation letter/meeting calendars seems long. VO may think that you are actually working there, especially if one goes through a services company. Plus it is advisable to be more specific in terms of purpose rather than a generic " Business meetings and requirements discussions" statement.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thank you very much for your reply.

I am going to attend interview in Dec with proper invitation letter from my parent company(ours is Product company not the Service company ).
Could you please suggest what to answer for purpose of Travel(I agree mine was short answer ) ?

Thanks & Regards,
Sri.

[raghvi]

Thank you very much for your reply.

I am going to attend interview in Dec with proper invitation letter from my parent company(ours is Product company not the Service company ).
Could you please suggest what to answer for purpose of Travel(I agree mine was short answer ) ?

Thanks & Regards,
Sri.

Talk about specific meeting details with respect to the Product and change sin the product for which the meeting is being held.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[rsj]

Too long stay for business

A business meeting/conference/convention is already long enough for 5 days. Try making it 7 to 8 days. Because nowadays. business meetings can be held online thru skype,whatsover. Unless you emphasize that you are one of the most important persons needed to make the project work.

[ysrikanth_mca]

B1 Visa Approved on Second Attempt

when i attended my first B1 visa interview 3 months ago it was not successful.my company applied again.
Since the first time my visa was not approved this time i have no clue what kind of questions they would ask but i decided to prepare well and answer confidently.

The Interview :

Me: Good Morning with Smile
VO: Good Morning,can i have your passport

Me: Sure.handed over passport

VO: Purpose of the Visit
Me: Business meetings & Knowledge transition

Vo: Which company you are working?
Me:ZZZ,one of the the largest Telecom company in US

Vo: Good,how long is the trip
Me: 3 weeks

Vo: who else is traveling with you
Me: Alone(also mentioned that my wife and Kid cant travel as wife is working and my kid has school)

Vo: What is the Salary
Me: Answered in both annually and Monthly

VO: Typing something and then with a beautiful smile she said my Visa is APPROVED
Me: Thank you very much

Tips: make it clear that you have no intention to settle in the US as you have some strong ties in the home country.

All the best guys

[utpalganatra]

B1 Visa got rejected recently.

Hi friends, just to share my B1-Visa Interview Question/Answer sessions and my rejection @US Consulate, Mumbai. This was recent in June-2017

Q.) What is the purpose of your visit? (Actually I had to ask her(Consulate officer) to repeat the question, because of the pronunciation and not-so-clear audibility of the mike)
A.) (Actually I thought of giving an elaborate reply, which I think, I shouldn't have given, based on the expression of the consulate officer. My answer was as below.)
Currently I am working as a Product analyst since last 1 year.
Last year our company was recognized as a CMM level 3 company and to maintain that level, our company has decided to follow Agile's Scrum process instead of waterfall model.
So I am going to USA to get the in-depth training regarding Agile's Scrum process and implement it in India when I come back.

Q.) Why were you chosen for this training?
A.) (Again I elaborated on this.)
Previously I was working as a Principal Software Engineer for this Company and Now I am working as a Product Analyst for Last 1 year. So based on my experience for both Software development and Analysis, I am chosen for this training.

Q.) How long you are working with this company?
A.) (This question might be a game changer for me, I suppose, but don't know exactly. Here the history is somewhat different than what was mentioned in invitation letter or letter to consulate. Here issue is, like , I worked as Principal Software engineer for previous employer (not mentioning the name here) for last 9 years. Previous employer was also working for the same USA company, in which I am currently working with. But Since last 1 and 1/2 year, my USA company has owned Indian Company and our company became MNC now. You can say my last employer have sold company to USA and he himself diversified into other business. My answer was as below)
I am working for last 10 years for this company.

Q.) How long are you going to stay in USA.
A.) Around 2-3 weeks. (FYI: - In DS160, it was mentioned 20 days)

Q.) To whom you are going to get the training?
A.) My Vice President, Product Development Manager, Mr. xyz (not mentioning his name here and the answer was exactly as per mentioned in letter to consulate.)

Q.) Oh so you are saying, you are going to get training from your Vice president?
A.) (Here again I got confused, why such question and such exclamation mark!!!? And my answer was as below.)
Yes you are correct.

--------------------------

After this interview, consulate officer wrote something in the computer in front of her and said something like below to me: -
"I am sorry to say that this time we are not giving you the opportunity to got to USA. Better luck next time."
+
She gave me the reason form where a standard "214(b)" section reason was mentioned.
+
I didn't asked anything back to her and took my passport and went out.


My question is : - Which of the question/answer lead to the rejection under section 214(b)? I do not see a single question where I could have convinced consulate that I won't be coming back to India.
In fact there was no such question at all which said that I won't come back to India. Does anybody saw any specific reason to reject me under section 214(b) ?

[ysrikanth_mca]

Hi,
Sorry to hear that.but do not worry and Try again.

what my guess is that it,you should have avoided development word when explaining your role and also the Visa interview officer might not have convinced that the training will be provided by Vise President.

May be after 2-3 months gap you can try again with good preparation.