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OFC appointment: 22nd July Delhi
visa interview: 10th aug Chennai
status: visa approved
Thanks to all for providing good insights about the visa interview process. Let me share my experience with you all. I work for a foriegn company and it's not an IT company but with different sector. I am an Engineer but work in non IT field and a very different department altogether. Thought of going to Chennai myself from Delhi and then get the visa stamped for my kid through dropbox and a separate appointment for my working wife at Delhi itself.
The slow queues starting from outside the visa office at Chennai until the visa interview are killing and take it's toll on body. Though most of us have mentioned that going with family
and kid are sensible choices but honestly speaking, the only advantage with family is to get a priority in the queues and overall time period is reduced from start to end. I saw
a lot of families getting priority and surprisingly even single ladies/girls being asked to come forward. Long live the hypocrisy of gender equality, infact the males are supposed
to suffer everything in this country and still people talk about an "unequal world" :-)
Anyway, in the first queue that starts from the footpath lane where the consulate individual checks your passport and makes an entry in his tablet. The queue still continues on the
footpath and one can put up their own stuff such as mobile phones etc in a security booth after paying a small sum of money. It's completely hilarious why people still carry their phones
and other stuff with them despite a clear cut guidance on visa interview guidance slip "not to bring mobile, pendrives etc". Anyway it's a different topic.
The queue outside the gate ends up after a security guy screens individuals and lets you inside the consulate main gate. Inside there is another security check, wow what was the first one for?? The ladies politely ask if you have anything metallic? Then they take your papers, wallet etc and put that in X ray machine. The individuals are screened through Xray machine and the security guy rubs your clothes very hard that the entire ironing of the clothes goes for a toss. Mind you guys, if you plan to wear a blazer or suit, it's your wish but don't know how can an individual brave Chennai's hot weather in this time of the year and still wear that. It's a different topic anyway and purely personal choice but I didn't wear jacket etc and saw a lot of individuals including girls wearing blazers in this sticky
hot and humid weather.
Coming to the next queue, which is only for L1 blanket. They ask you to create three sets of documents with I-129s form, front page of I-797 and then your 500$ DD with your name and passport number
to be written at the back side The consulate team verifies the way these documents are collated, staple it and put that in your passport with a rubber band to make it look like a packet and you are ready to move to the next queue. this queue is a zig zag queue with four ramps leading to the gate where interviews are held. Thankfully it's covered with shade and fans therefore much better than queues outside
the gate. The security guard lets few of the individuals inside depending on when the rush gets cleared off from inside. You can see people coming out from the gate as well and most of them without any emotions. Not sure if they try to hide it or there was a high rejection rate that day. Lot of families coming out were seen with their passports in hand therefore clear case of rejections and one could clearly sympathize. Anyway focus on the pending job is important than getting distracted. Alright, after entering another gate, there is a queue again. My god, how many queues we will have
but this was inside an aircon area therefore plenty of time to dry your sweat and get yourself in order. The blanket visa guys are snigled out and asked to be a in a queue to deposit the DD's for fraud prevention. The individual is provided with two receipts of the DD. Then another counter is for scanning the fingers (what they did in OFC BTW. Not sure if it's for verifying the individual with their records). Next counter they verify passports again and then it takes you to another queue. This is the final queue where visa interviews are taken from counter number 19 to 26. six zig zag queues just like flight checkin queues at airport lead you to the visa officer (mostly Americans with one Indian lady that day). Not sure if that's routine but atleast on the day when I was there. Anyway, again a lot of waiting time in that queue until the coordinator informed me to go to a particular visa officer counter upon my turn
VO: Which company do you work with?
I: name of the company.
VO:How many years you have been working there?
I: xx years
VO: what's your designation?
I: I am responsible for YYYY .
VO: xx??
I: no, it's XX and xx.
VO: whom do you report to?
I: I report to YYYY who is also YYYY designation and based in YYYY (some other country)
VO: What's your team size?
I: direct reports XX and they have teammembers reporting to them, therefore overall xx
VO: what are your operational responsibilities?
I: Answer in three sentences with basic information without technical jaragon
VO: What's your salary?
I: xxK and bonus
VO: Which client will you work for?
I: I will continue to work for my company
VO: Where will you be based?
I: I will be based at XX (state).
VO: alright your visa has been approved, give me sometime for admin process. After typing'
for a while on computer she stamped the I-129s and gave two copies to me indicating that
one needs to be given to HR and other for US immigration at time of entry.
I: Thanks you and have a nice day.
Been through so many countries in last 10 years, such as schenegan countries, UK, Thailand, Singapore, China etc this was the most cumbersome process. I have a valid B1/B2 visa as well
but it's a different ballgame and those days the consulate processed everything in one appointment. I guess the intent is still to give visas unless there is a goof up by the individual or a suspicion in the mind of the visa officer. There is no need to over prepare as these are simple questions trying to understand more about the applicant and his/her reasons to travel on intra company transfer. There are borderline cases where the visa officer seeks more information such as educational documents, bank statements etc but most of the time they are not asked for.
Sorry for a lengthy post guys and apologies if it wasted your time. Cheers and All the best for your interview.
visa interview: 10th aug Chennai
status: visa approved
Thanks to all for providing good insights about the visa interview process. Let me share my experience with you all. I work for a foriegn company and it's not an IT company but with different sector. I am an Engineer but work in non IT field and a very different department altogether. Thought of going to Chennai myself from Delhi and then get the visa stamped for my kid through dropbox and a separate appointment for my working wife at Delhi itself.
The slow queues starting from outside the visa office at Chennai until the visa interview are killing and take it's toll on body. Though most of us have mentioned that going with family
and kid are sensible choices but honestly speaking, the only advantage with family is to get a priority in the queues and overall time period is reduced from start to end. I saw
a lot of families getting priority and surprisingly even single ladies/girls being asked to come forward. Long live the hypocrisy of gender equality, infact the males are supposed
to suffer everything in this country and still people talk about an "unequal world" :-)
Anyway, in the first queue that starts from the footpath lane where the consulate individual checks your passport and makes an entry in his tablet. The queue still continues on the
footpath and one can put up their own stuff such as mobile phones etc in a security booth after paying a small sum of money. It's completely hilarious why people still carry their phones
and other stuff with them despite a clear cut guidance on visa interview guidance slip "not to bring mobile, pendrives etc". Anyway it's a different topic.
The queue outside the gate ends up after a security guy screens individuals and lets you inside the consulate main gate. Inside there is another security check, wow what was the first one for?? The ladies politely ask if you have anything metallic? Then they take your papers, wallet etc and put that in X ray machine. The individuals are screened through Xray machine and the security guy rubs your clothes very hard that the entire ironing of the clothes goes for a toss. Mind you guys, if you plan to wear a blazer or suit, it's your wish but don't know how can an individual brave Chennai's hot weather in this time of the year and still wear that. It's a different topic anyway and purely personal choice but I didn't wear jacket etc and saw a lot of individuals including girls wearing blazers in this sticky
hot and humid weather.
Coming to the next queue, which is only for L1 blanket. They ask you to create three sets of documents with I-129s form, front page of I-797 and then your 500$ DD with your name and passport number
to be written at the back side The consulate team verifies the way these documents are collated, staple it and put that in your passport with a rubber band to make it look like a packet and you are ready to move to the next queue. this queue is a zig zag queue with four ramps leading to the gate where interviews are held. Thankfully it's covered with shade and fans therefore much better than queues outside
the gate. The security guard lets few of the individuals inside depending on when the rush gets cleared off from inside. You can see people coming out from the gate as well and most of them without any emotions. Not sure if they try to hide it or there was a high rejection rate that day. Lot of families coming out were seen with their passports in hand therefore clear case of rejections and one could clearly sympathize. Anyway focus on the pending job is important than getting distracted. Alright, after entering another gate, there is a queue again. My god, how many queues we will have
but this was inside an aircon area therefore plenty of time to dry your sweat and get yourself in order. The blanket visa guys are snigled out and asked to be a in a queue to deposit the DD's for fraud prevention. The individual is provided with two receipts of the DD. Then another counter is for scanning the fingers (what they did in OFC BTW. Not sure if it's for verifying the individual with their records). Next counter they verify passports again and then it takes you to another queue. This is the final queue where visa interviews are taken from counter number 19 to 26. six zig zag queues just like flight checkin queues at airport lead you to the visa officer (mostly Americans with one Indian lady that day). Not sure if that's routine but atleast on the day when I was there. Anyway, again a lot of waiting time in that queue until the coordinator informed me to go to a particular visa officer counter upon my turn
VO: Which company do you work with?
I: name of the company.
VO:How many years you have been working there?
I: xx years
VO: what's your designation?
I: I am responsible for YYYY .
VO: xx??
I: no, it's XX and xx.
VO: whom do you report to?
I: I report to YYYY who is also YYYY designation and based in YYYY (some other country)
VO: What's your team size?
I: direct reports XX and they have teammembers reporting to them, therefore overall xx
VO: what are your operational responsibilities?
I: Answer in three sentences with basic information without technical jaragon
VO: What's your salary?
I: xxK and bonus
VO: Which client will you work for?
I: I will continue to work for my company
VO: Where will you be based?
I: I will be based at XX (state).
VO: alright your visa has been approved, give me sometime for admin process. After typing'
for a while on computer she stamped the I-129s and gave two copies to me indicating that
one needs to be given to HR and other for US immigration at time of entry.
I: Thanks you and have a nice day.
Been through so many countries in last 10 years, such as schenegan countries, UK, Thailand, Singapore, China etc this was the most cumbersome process. I have a valid B1/B2 visa as well
but it's a different ballgame and those days the consulate processed everything in one appointment. I guess the intent is still to give visas unless there is a goof up by the individual or a suspicion in the mind of the visa officer. There is no need to over prepare as these are simple questions trying to understand more about the applicant and his/her reasons to travel on intra company transfer. There are borderline cases where the visa officer seeks more information such as educational documents, bank statements etc but most of the time they are not asked for.
Sorry for a lengthy post guys and apologies if it wasted your time. Cheers and All the best for your interview.
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