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Hi all,
I just completed my visa process under L1A individual - Manager
The petition was submitted to USCIS in the first week of Dec'16 and I received RFE (Request For Evidence) in about 12 days from the time I submitted the petition (petition was drafted and submitted by my immigration attorney through my employer).
The RFE requested us to provide more evidence to prove that I am a manager in India and my role in the US will be manager and above. It also indirectly asked us to prove that the office in the US does have reportees as stated. USCIS was looking for all my US direct report's paystubs and W2's.
It took a month for us to draft the response considering Christmas holidays. My legal team denied to provide sensitive information such as paystubs and etc.,
Although my attorney was not too positive I understood where the USCIS adjudicator was coming from.. His/her reason for more evidence seemed valid for the below reasons:
We did not submit my promotion letter (shows manager)
We did not submit last 12 month payslips (shows manager)
We did not submit a letter from HR confirming my employment and role
We did not submit a letter from my COO/Operations head which states my roles and responsibilities and my designation
It is not that we completely ignored the above items.. we did provide all these but not in the format of individual letter and signatures for each.
So in our response I submitted the above documents and also provided my employers US tax returns that shows the number of employees in the company in US (substituted this for paystub requests)
We submitted the response mid Jan'17 and received a response in 10 days.. It stated 'My case is Approved'.. Later the status changed to 'My case was approved and the decision is mailed'
My attorney in the US received the mail (hardcopy) in about 2 weeks. I had already fixed my appointment with the consulate by then.. My attorney sent me the hardcopy by International FedEx and I received it in 3 business days at Bangalore
Chennai:
Yesterday was my biometrics.. It was at 10am.. I reached at 9:30am and by 10 the entire process was complete.
This morning at 10:30am was my consulate interview.. I reached there by 9:30am and there was a long queue.. Too many families were in the queue (husband, wife and a toddler).. I am unmarried and I was alone.. By the way, one of the consulates was asking children pointing by at their father 'is this your uncle'? 'Do you recognize him?'.. I think they want to hear 'he is my daddy/dad'
The folks at the consulate moved the queue by the type of visa (in most cases)..
In about 45 minutes I was in a queue ready to meet the consulate.. My heart was beating faster.. it was my turn now and I think I had already seen a guy getting rejected (looked like it was a blanket visa request)
Consulate interview:
VO - Good morning
Me - Good morning sir
VO - Your petitioner?
Me - Mentioned the name
VO - Is this EEEEEEELLL (L) 1 Innnndividual (he stressed on individual)
Me - Yes L1 Individual
VO - Is it A or B
Me - A
VO - What is your current designation
Me - Manager and mentioned the department name
VO - Why is the system showing a different employer name (mentioned the name) while the petitioner is different
Me - My company was acquired by this company (the one VO mentioned) last year in the month of June
VO - How many directs report will you have? He looked into my eyes for the response
Me - 3 direct reports.. Each will have a minimum of 2 team leaders reporting in to them and each team lead will have between 10 to 20 associates
VO - Ok. Your visa is approved.
Me -Thank you. (since he did not ask any document)Should I give you 1 797B? He mentioned no to it
I wore a suit with tie (hardly saw one or two with suit).. May be that went well with the type of visa I was requesting for.. My presentation was good and the interview only lasted for about 2 minutes.
To all my friends reading this.. I rehearsed my presentation well so I was able to deliver well although I was nervous. Because once you practice something it will flow out easily unconsciously just that it needs a start.. Its the brain theory..
All the best!
Thanks
I just completed my visa process under L1A individual - Manager
The petition was submitted to USCIS in the first week of Dec'16 and I received RFE (Request For Evidence) in about 12 days from the time I submitted the petition (petition was drafted and submitted by my immigration attorney through my employer).
The RFE requested us to provide more evidence to prove that I am a manager in India and my role in the US will be manager and above. It also indirectly asked us to prove that the office in the US does have reportees as stated. USCIS was looking for all my US direct report's paystubs and W2's.
It took a month for us to draft the response considering Christmas holidays. My legal team denied to provide sensitive information such as paystubs and etc.,
Although my attorney was not too positive I understood where the USCIS adjudicator was coming from.. His/her reason for more evidence seemed valid for the below reasons:
We did not submit my promotion letter (shows manager)
We did not submit last 12 month payslips (shows manager)
We did not submit a letter from HR confirming my employment and role
We did not submit a letter from my COO/Operations head which states my roles and responsibilities and my designation
It is not that we completely ignored the above items.. we did provide all these but not in the format of individual letter and signatures for each.
So in our response I submitted the above documents and also provided my employers US tax returns that shows the number of employees in the company in US (substituted this for paystub requests)
We submitted the response mid Jan'17 and received a response in 10 days.. It stated 'My case is Approved'.. Later the status changed to 'My case was approved and the decision is mailed'
My attorney in the US received the mail (hardcopy) in about 2 weeks. I had already fixed my appointment with the consulate by then.. My attorney sent me the hardcopy by International FedEx and I received it in 3 business days at Bangalore
Chennai:
Yesterday was my biometrics.. It was at 10am.. I reached at 9:30am and by 10 the entire process was complete.
This morning at 10:30am was my consulate interview.. I reached there by 9:30am and there was a long queue.. Too many families were in the queue (husband, wife and a toddler).. I am unmarried and I was alone.. By the way, one of the consulates was asking children pointing by at their father 'is this your uncle'? 'Do you recognize him?'.. I think they want to hear 'he is my daddy/dad'
The folks at the consulate moved the queue by the type of visa (in most cases)..
In about 45 minutes I was in a queue ready to meet the consulate.. My heart was beating faster.. it was my turn now and I think I had already seen a guy getting rejected (looked like it was a blanket visa request)
Consulate interview:
VO - Good morning
Me - Good morning sir
VO - Your petitioner?
Me - Mentioned the name
VO - Is this EEEEEEELLL (L) 1 Innnndividual (he stressed on individual)
Me - Yes L1 Individual
VO - Is it A or B
Me - A
VO - What is your current designation
Me - Manager and mentioned the department name
VO - Why is the system showing a different employer name (mentioned the name) while the petitioner is different
Me - My company was acquired by this company (the one VO mentioned) last year in the month of June
VO - How many directs report will you have? He looked into my eyes for the response
Me - 3 direct reports.. Each will have a minimum of 2 team leaders reporting in to them and each team lead will have between 10 to 20 associates
VO - Ok. Your visa is approved.
Me -Thank you. (since he did not ask any document)Should I give you 1 797B? He mentioned no to it
I wore a suit with tie (hardly saw one or two with suit).. May be that went well with the type of visa I was requesting for.. My presentation was good and the interview only lasted for about 2 minutes.
To all my friends reading this.. I rehearsed my presentation well so I was able to deliver well although I was nervous. Because once you practice something it will flow out easily unconsciously just that it needs a start.. Its the brain theory..
All the best!
Thanks
