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L1-A Visa Approved with L2
Hi All,
Thanks to every one whoevr posted their experience. Since i feel i got benefitted from that so its my obligation to post mine.. I got my visa approved last week along with my wife and elder son. Its a blanket L1-A visa.
A brief into my case. I work as a Senior Project Manager in Tier 1 IT Company. I have 15 years of IT experience with more than 10 years in Telecom domain. I led a large practice of about 100 people in Customer Experience Transformation domain. I have already travelled on L1-A few times and had been in US for about 3-4 years and on B1 two times. I never had to face any rejection luckliy..:-)
Overall it was a good experience in Chennai Embassy after waiting for more than 1.5 hours for our turn. They allowed us to skip q's as we have small kids and the little one (4 years) was sleeping... If you are coming with kids. don't hesitate to ask security for a q waiver.. :-).. They allowed my 4 years old US Citizen kid. Wait could be upto 2-3 hours so plan accordingly. Stuff your kids even if they dont like as there is nothing to eat inside. there is only water that also you would rather dont drink.. if you can manage...
I will skip OFC appointment as that is really very straight forward.. only thing is bring documents as per the information.
1. Self: Good morning Sir
2. VO: Good morning, how are you Mr. <ZZZ>
3. Self: I am doing good. How about you?
4. VO: I am doing well. Thanks for asking. Smiles
5. VO: For whom are you working?
6. Self: <<Tier one IT Company>>
7. VO: You are applying for L1B/L1A?
8. Self: its L1A and I have already travelled few times on L1-A
9. VO: Is the little one with you a US citizen? (pointing to my younger son!)
10. Self : Yes
11. VO: Great!. Where did you travelled to?
12. Self: Sir, I have been to <<City, State>> and <<City, State>>
13. VO: (Smiled)This <First one>> is my home town..
14. Self: That’s Great. It’s a lovely place. We enjoyed our stay there.. even Though it was a small one
15. VO: have you travelled during Summers ??
16. Self: We were there from Mar-Jun. So it was bit rainy. But the weather was very nice.
17. VO: Smiles..
18. VO: How many years you spent in US?
19. Self: about 3 years..
20. VO: Sir, whom would you be working for while in US?
21. Self: Sir I will be working for <<My Company Name>>, While providing services to <Client Name>. It’s a customer portal transformation program.
22. VO: Where are you going to?
23. Self: Its going to be <<City, State>>
24. VO: How many people are going to report into you?
25. Self: Sir the total team size is 46, Out of which 35 are in offshore and 11 in USA
26. VO: How many people are directly reporting into you?
27. Self: Sir – There are six direct reports. It’s a mix of project managers, Technology architects and couple of group leads.
28. VO: Sir, your offshore is kind of superficial to us. Please give details for onshore team only
29. VO: How many direct reports in US?
30. Self: Three
31. VO: how many are project managers?
32. Self: 1 project manager
33. VO: Does the people reports to you in US manages people below them?
34. Self: Yes they do.
35. VO: What will be your US salary?
36. Self: ZZZ,YYY
37. VO: < Starts questioning my wife>>
38. VO: Ma’m what is your highest education?
39. My Wife: Replied, Its Bachelor of Education
40. VO: interesting, are you working?
41. My Wife: No Sir
42. VO: < turned towards my 8 years old son and started grilling poor chap and he asked more than 10-15 questions to him. I do feel the intent was definitely to keep us engaged and not trying to make a decision. While he was typing on his computer..>
43. VO : What’s your name, fathers name, mothers name, DoB, which grade are you studying, what is your favorite subject, are you good at that subject etc?
44. VO: Sir, I am approving your visa and it will be valid for 3 years. Give one copy of your petition to your HRD and take another one along with you when you travel.. Enjoy your stay in US.
Some Do's and Don't
Do’s:
1. Most Important - Be at ease.. Don’t get panic.. Keep smiling, be polite and cordial with the VO.
2. Try to engage in a conversation with VO.. (e.g. My conversation on <VO native place> above.. irrespective of my liking to the City or not.. as a courtesy I engaged him with a conversation on a topic of interest to him.. it put both of us at ease.. and rest of the interview was far more cordial and easy going..
3. You can proactively provide any information which might help building a case. As in my case it was my previous trips on L1-A (Same Visa)
4. Remember everything to the best you can from your DS-160. Ensure your wife also read your and her own DS-160 line by line.
5. Be honest to the VO. They are smart people with tremendous experience & can easily catch you if you are trying to hide anything. You end up giving one-two interviews in life they do about 100 daily...
6. Carry your documents in plastic bags, transparent, and you may additionally carry a plastic bag just to avoid getting your documents wet in Chennai rain.
7. If coming with family , small kids.. you can request security to jump q’s.. you can only request don’t argue.. they would help most of the time
8. Carry separate copies of Appointment confirmation page for each applicant. Both at OFC and consulate.. It does happen that your spouse and kids might get into different q’ than yours either at finger printing or during security checks.
9. Move forward beyond waiting line – ONLY if you are asked by the VO.. don’t rush.. Wait for a singnal from VO to come forward. Many a times they take few seconds or a minute atleast to wrap up documentation from previous candidate. So dont distract them by moving forward towards then without their signal. It can even offend them.
10. Plan to eat, drink lot of fluid before entering the campus (specially with kids) as they don’t have anything to eat inside.. and the process may take up-to 2-3 hours.
11. Ensure you have all the documents.. e,g. 3 sets of petition for L1 cases. In one case the VO simply rejected the visa as he was not carrying the 3 sets.. VO said sir I am challenged that I can not scan/copy your documents. Poor guy apologized but it did not help..
12. Know about your project, client in detail..
Don’t:
1. Don’t provide mechanical answers.. else they might feel that you are providing pre-meditated rehserssed, Q/A
2. Panic…
3. Argue with VO..
4. Carry zip bags or big bags.
5. Try to overkill by reading all the posts on forums such as these.
Thanks and good luck for the prospective applicants. Take it easy and hold on your nerves inspite of your keenness, interest, stakes on getting the visa..
Cheers,
rSharma
Thanks to every one whoevr posted their experience. Since i feel i got benefitted from that so its my obligation to post mine.. I got my visa approved last week along with my wife and elder son. Its a blanket L1-A visa.
A brief into my case. I work as a Senior Project Manager in Tier 1 IT Company. I have 15 years of IT experience with more than 10 years in Telecom domain. I led a large practice of about 100 people in Customer Experience Transformation domain. I have already travelled on L1-A few times and had been in US for about 3-4 years and on B1 two times. I never had to face any rejection luckliy..:-)
Overall it was a good experience in Chennai Embassy after waiting for more than 1.5 hours for our turn. They allowed us to skip q's as we have small kids and the little one (4 years) was sleeping... If you are coming with kids. don't hesitate to ask security for a q waiver.. :-).. They allowed my 4 years old US Citizen kid. Wait could be upto 2-3 hours so plan accordingly. Stuff your kids even if they dont like as there is nothing to eat inside. there is only water that also you would rather dont drink.. if you can manage...
I will skip OFC appointment as that is really very straight forward.. only thing is bring documents as per the information.
1. Self: Good morning Sir
2. VO: Good morning, how are you Mr. <ZZZ>
3. Self: I am doing good. How about you?
4. VO: I am doing well. Thanks for asking. Smiles
5. VO: For whom are you working?
6. Self: <<Tier one IT Company>>
7. VO: You are applying for L1B/L1A?
8. Self: its L1A and I have already travelled few times on L1-A
9. VO: Is the little one with you a US citizen? (pointing to my younger son!)
10. Self : Yes
11. VO: Great!. Where did you travelled to?
12. Self: Sir, I have been to <<City, State>> and <<City, State>>
13. VO: (Smiled)This <First one>> is my home town..
14. Self: That’s Great. It’s a lovely place. We enjoyed our stay there.. even Though it was a small one
15. VO: have you travelled during Summers ??
16. Self: We were there from Mar-Jun. So it was bit rainy. But the weather was very nice.
17. VO: Smiles..
18. VO: How many years you spent in US?
19. Self: about 3 years..
20. VO: Sir, whom would you be working for while in US?
21. Self: Sir I will be working for <<My Company Name>>, While providing services to <Client Name>. It’s a customer portal transformation program.
22. VO: Where are you going to?
23. Self: Its going to be <<City, State>>
24. VO: How many people are going to report into you?
25. Self: Sir the total team size is 46, Out of which 35 are in offshore and 11 in USA
26. VO: How many people are directly reporting into you?
27. Self: Sir – There are six direct reports. It’s a mix of project managers, Technology architects and couple of group leads.
28. VO: Sir, your offshore is kind of superficial to us. Please give details for onshore team only
29. VO: How many direct reports in US?
30. Self: Three
31. VO: how many are project managers?
32. Self: 1 project manager
33. VO: Does the people reports to you in US manages people below them?
34. Self: Yes they do.
35. VO: What will be your US salary?
36. Self: ZZZ,YYY
37. VO: < Starts questioning my wife>>
38. VO: Ma’m what is your highest education?
39. My Wife: Replied, Its Bachelor of Education
40. VO: interesting, are you working?
41. My Wife: No Sir
42. VO: < turned towards my 8 years old son and started grilling poor chap and he asked more than 10-15 questions to him. I do feel the intent was definitely to keep us engaged and not trying to make a decision. While he was typing on his computer..>
43. VO : What’s your name, fathers name, mothers name, DoB, which grade are you studying, what is your favorite subject, are you good at that subject etc?
44. VO: Sir, I am approving your visa and it will be valid for 3 years. Give one copy of your petition to your HRD and take another one along with you when you travel.. Enjoy your stay in US.
Some Do's and Don't
Do’s:
1. Most Important - Be at ease.. Don’t get panic.. Keep smiling, be polite and cordial with the VO.
2. Try to engage in a conversation with VO.. (e.g. My conversation on <VO native place> above.. irrespective of my liking to the City or not.. as a courtesy I engaged him with a conversation on a topic of interest to him.. it put both of us at ease.. and rest of the interview was far more cordial and easy going..
3. You can proactively provide any information which might help building a case. As in my case it was my previous trips on L1-A (Same Visa)
4. Remember everything to the best you can from your DS-160. Ensure your wife also read your and her own DS-160 line by line.
5. Be honest to the VO. They are smart people with tremendous experience & can easily catch you if you are trying to hide anything. You end up giving one-two interviews in life they do about 100 daily...
6. Carry your documents in plastic bags, transparent, and you may additionally carry a plastic bag just to avoid getting your documents wet in Chennai rain.
7. If coming with family , small kids.. you can request security to jump q’s.. you can only request don’t argue.. they would help most of the time
8. Carry separate copies of Appointment confirmation page for each applicant. Both at OFC and consulate.. It does happen that your spouse and kids might get into different q’ than yours either at finger printing or during security checks.
9. Move forward beyond waiting line – ONLY if you are asked by the VO.. don’t rush.. Wait for a singnal from VO to come forward. Many a times they take few seconds or a minute atleast to wrap up documentation from previous candidate. So dont distract them by moving forward towards then without their signal. It can even offend them.
10. Plan to eat, drink lot of fluid before entering the campus (specially with kids) as they don’t have anything to eat inside.. and the process may take up-to 2-3 hours.
11. Ensure you have all the documents.. e,g. 3 sets of petition for L1 cases. In one case the VO simply rejected the visa as he was not carrying the 3 sets.. VO said sir I am challenged that I can not scan/copy your documents. Poor guy apologized but it did not help..
12. Know about your project, client in detail..
Don’t:
1. Don’t provide mechanical answers.. else they might feel that you are providing pre-meditated rehserssed, Q/A
2. Panic…
3. Argue with VO..
4. Carry zip bags or big bags.
5. Try to overkill by reading all the posts on forums such as these.
Thanks and good luck for the prospective applicants. Take it easy and hold on your nerves inspite of your keenness, interest, stakes on getting the visa..
Cheers,
rSharma
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