L1B Visa Rejected on 10 Dec 2014 @ Chennai

[Nitin Raj]

L1B Denied - Denial Reason - Not Clearly Approvable

I am just back in Bangalore after Chennai L1B Visa consulate interview.

The Visa Officer denied my L1B Visa application with Denial Reason - Not Clearly Approvable.

Interview lasted for less than 2 minutes.

He asked the below questions in following order.

1.What is your specialisation ?
Answered
2.What is bridge ?
Answered
3.How many people work in your team ?
Answered
4.What is your US salary ?
Answered
5.What will you do in US ?
Answered

After all these questions he mentioned by case is not clearly approvable and my company is aware of this.He further said that if company needs me in US they should apply for another Visa Category like H1B and i will there at consulate interview again within days or weeks.

Visa officer neither stamped my passport with rejection nor he gave me any coloured slip ( Blue / White ).He stamped 2 copied of form I-129S with Denial Reason and returned them to me along with my passport.

My case status now in Administrative Processing in CEAC website as on 13 Dec 2014.

Can any one help me on below questions ?

1.Is it mandatory to receive any slip after denial ..I did not get any ?
2.What does this Administrative processing mean ? Is there still any hope ?
3.What are next options ?

I am feeling low and dejected.I have total experience of 8.5 years and i am with this company for last 4.5 years.

[raghvi]

L1B Denied - Denial Reason - Not Clearly Approvable

I am just back in Bangalore after Chennai L1B Visa consulate interview.

The Visa Officer denied my L1B Visa application with Denial Reason - Not Clearly Approvable.

Interview lasted for less than 2 minutes.

He asked the below questions in following order.

1.What is your specialisation ?
Answered
2.What is bridge ?
Answered
3.How many people work in your team ?
Answered
4.What is your US salary ?
Answered
5.What will you do in US ?
Answered

After all these questions he mentioned by case is not clearly approvable and my company is aware of this.He further said that if company needs me in US they should apply for another Visa Category like H1B and i will there at consulate interview again within days or weeks.

Visa officer neither stamped my passport with rejection nor he gave me any coloured slip ( Blue / White ).He stamped 2 copied of form I-129S with Denial Reason and returned them to me along with my passport.

My case status now in Administrative Processing in CEAC website as on 13 Dec 2014.

Can any one help me on below questions ?

1.Is it mandatory to receive any slip after denial ..I did not get any ?
2.What does this Administrative processing mean ? Is there still any hope ?
3.What are next options ?

I am feeling low and dejected.I have total experience of 8.5 years and i am with this company for last 4.5 years.

First of all there is no reason to get dejected or feel low. Many more doors are there to try out.

Your answers to the questions asked by the VO should give you a pointer as to where things went wrong.It could probably be ; salary too low for specialized skill set, too many members in team, too generic a specialization etc.

1. Not necessarily, but many a times the officers do give a slip.
2. I dont think there is much hope with this petition/documentation.
3. H1B or L1 B Individual are few of the options that your employer can explore.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[Nitin Raj]

Thanks for the reply

First of all there is no reason to get dejected or feel low. Many more doors are there to try out.

Your answers to the questions asked by the VO should give you a pointer as to where things went wrong.It could probably be ; salary too low for specialized skill set, too many members in team, too generic a specialization etc.

1. Not necessarily, but many a times the officers do give a slip.
2. I dont think there is much hope with this petition/documentation.
3. H1B or L1 B Individual are few of the options that your employer can explore.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Many thanks for clarifying the questions.

[Nitin Raj]

Need further Advice.Thanks.

My Specialisation mentioned in 129S was SAP FICO ( In Job responsibilities in US / India / Employment history etc ) which VO was reading in front of me.Did this becomes a problem ?
Also i told him that there are 2 people in US and 4 people in India who know this solution internal to the company.
Also my salary is 97000 USD per annum in US.

Please advice if above became a negative point in application as if my company reapplies needs to be taken care of else same results will come out.
Would like to mention this would be my first trip to US though i have been outside India many time to Europe , Australia , Singapore etc.

Thanks for advice.

[raghvi]

My Specialisation mentioned in 129S was SAP FICO ( In Job responsibilities in US / India / Employment history etc ) which VO was reading in front of me.Did this becomes a problem ?
Also i told him that there are 2 people in US and 4 people in India who know this solution internal to the company.
Also my salary is 97000 USD per annum in US.

Please advice if above became a negative point in application as if my company reapplies needs to be taken care of else same results will come out.
Would like to mention this would be my first trip to US though i have been outside India many time to Europe , Australia , Singapore etc.

Thanks for advice.

SAP FICO as such is not truly a specialized skill its more of a third party technology unless of course if you are involved in building this technology rather than using it. And with 6 People in your company knowing about this solution it does not make you unique.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[Nitin Raj]

Case under Administrative processing ?

Hi
When i am checking my case status in CEAC website .. It says Administrative processing .. Any clue what is this status for once the Visa is denied anyways.
And is it necessary for this case to be closed finally before i apply for next visa category.
Thanks for valuable advice.

[raghvi]

I would not trust the online status much. They sometimes take time to update. Also, 221G is considered a soft rejection so technically you can re appear for the interview with stronger evidence. As and when you go for the next visa stamping, you might be questioned about this application, so technically you need not officially "close" this application.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[Nitin Raj]

I would not trust the online status much. They sometimes take time to update. Also, 221G is considered a soft rejection so technically you can re appear for the interview with stronger evidence. As and when you go for the next visa stamping, you might be questioned about this application, so technically you need not officially "close" this application.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Hi,

My L1B visa was rejected on 10 Dec @ Chennai.Almost 50 days have crossed and status in CEAC website still says Admin Processing.What does this mean as they never issued any 221 G etc to me.VO just stamped Form 129S with Not clearly approvable status and returned them to me ?

Meanwhile my company has decided to go for L1B Indivisual processing category .. Any comments on what will be its success rate considering the history till now ?

Any specifics i need to take care as against last time ?

Many thanks for your reply.It has always been very informative and helpful.

[Naveen Venkatachalapathi]

I had similar rejection reason "Not Clearly Approvable" on July 14th 2015, Can you please tell me what did you do next, did you apply for L1-B Individual? if yes did they ask you about the previous application rejection?

[kallu111]

Did the L1B Individual go through fine without any issues after L1B Blanket got rejected ? If yes, what question did the VO ask ?

[dreamer123]

Follow up

Hi
When i am checking my case status in CEAC website .. It says Administrative processing .. Any clue what is this status for once the Visa is denied anyways.
And is it necessary for this case to be closed finally before i apply for next visa category.
Thanks for valuable advice.

What was the end result of this? I am on the same boat now .