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My name is mustafa lakdawala i had posted two questions on this forum and would like to thank immi help!!! As well as the u.s consulate staff and support staff who were prompt in replying to my queries due to which i got my visas for 10 years each for my mother, wife my son 1- year old and my self
first of all i want to tell all those applicants to fill the ds-160 form on your own the immi help website and the u.s consulate website gives self explanatory answers to the question posted in the ds-160 form and to be honest it really helps when you go for the interview as the questions asked by the interviewer are totally based on the ds-160 form you have filled( most of the questions)
to start with i filled the ds-160 form of my entire family all by myself although it took 4-5 days to understand the form as well as whats need to be filled but its worth it...at the end the whole exercise, also whatever doubts i had were cleared by immi help!!
Supporting documents --> i collected all the documents of my properties, my one year bank balance of all the banks accounts i am holding with and all the other assets and computed a letter with the help of the chartered accountant as to what movable and immovable assets i have and of course he certified it. Carried all the original documents of properties and bank accounts etc for the interview
ofc(biometrics) --> was on the 14th of august took not more that 5 minutes to finish the entire process, they click your photograph and also take your finger prints and that's the end of it, also they tell you about the lounge(available in mumbai only) they are offering at 400 rupees per person(its your personal choice to take the lounge before your interview though i didn't take it)
interview --> was on the 21st august at 09:00 hrs, we were told to reach 45 minutes before the interview time i.e 08:15 hrs and all of us reached there at 08:15 hrs, my mother is a wheel chair passenger so we did not have to wait in the long queue outside the consulate , after entering the first gate of the consulate there is a security check and of course try to keep all the electronic items (mobiles, laptops. I-pad etc) in your car or give it to someone whose accompanying you and waiting outside the consulate. For my kid though they allowed all the food stuff we were carrying. After the security check there is a big waiting hall with a lot of chairs where you are made to sit and when you turn comes you have to enter another hall where you will be given a token number stuck on your passport and then proceed to one of the counters where they will re-check your finger print, since my mother was on wheel chair we by-passed the waiting area completely which must have saved at least 45 minutes to one hour, once we entered the other hall where the token as well as finger printing takes place the same place interview also is taken.
After finishing all the formalities our turn came for the interview, all four of us went together to the window where the interview was suppose to be held, the questions asked are as follows
vo --> good morning
me and my family --> good morning sir
vo --> passports please
me --> handed over all the 4 passports
vo--> all four of you are one family
me --> yes
vo--> pointing towards my mother asked is she your mother or mother in law
me --> my mother
vo --> purpose of visit to the u.s
me --> family vacation
vo --> duration of the trip
me --> two weeks
vo--> places u are going to visit
me --> mentioned a few cities of america and also said disney world
vo--> asking me whats your profession
me --> tour manager cum organiser ( i had mentioned this on my ds-160 form also)
vo --> asking me annual income
me --> xxxxxx per annum( my it-returns which i was carrying showed my total income so said whatever was on my it-returns)
vo--> after looking at my mothers passport he asked her why she has gone to iran?
Me --> she replied for sight-seeing and for pilgrimage
to that i added that we used iran as as transit point to enter iraq since there was an embargo in iraq so airports were not operatonal during that time only way to enter iraq was through borders
vo---> asked me again my annual income
me--> same answer as before
vo--> asked me when did my father expire
me --> replied
vo--> asked me when did i get married
me--> replied
vo--> asked me about my previous visit to the u.s and told me to give that particular passport in which i have my previous u.s.visa which had expired in 2011
me--> i told him my mother and i both had traveled to u.s. Before as it was also mentioned in the ds-160 form and i had marked the page in which i had my previous visa so i opened that particular page and handed the passport to the officer
vo--> he stamped on my old visa "cancelled without prejudice" and handed that passport back to me
vo--> and the he said your visas are approved!!!!
And took our passports, no questions to my wife no documents checked, although i must admit that previous visa of u.s. Helped me immensely to acquire the new visa but i am sure and many of you will agree that this is not the only criteria to get visa of u.s, i agree with many applicants who have posted their experiences in the forum that answer the questions very confidently and give honest answers don't try to manipulate as the visa officers are very well trained to catch manipulative answers and for that i again insist to fill your own ds-160 form
collected my passport today and saw 10 year visas printed for all of us!! Cheers!! And all the best to future applicants
if you have any queries and you think i can be of any help please write to me and i will try my level best to reply although the members on this forum are much more experienced then me who had replied to my queries but anyways any questions regarding anything please write on this forum and i will try to answer
also some people have this query that in the ds-160 the visa category type they have typed b1/b2 instead of b2 but and i had done the same mistake in hte ds-160 form but immihelp advice me that both visas are combined when issued so it should not be a problem and it was not a problem at all.
first of all i want to tell all those applicants to fill the ds-160 form on your own the immi help website and the u.s consulate website gives self explanatory answers to the question posted in the ds-160 form and to be honest it really helps when you go for the interview as the questions asked by the interviewer are totally based on the ds-160 form you have filled( most of the questions)
to start with i filled the ds-160 form of my entire family all by myself although it took 4-5 days to understand the form as well as whats need to be filled but its worth it...at the end the whole exercise, also whatever doubts i had were cleared by immi help!!
Supporting documents --> i collected all the documents of my properties, my one year bank balance of all the banks accounts i am holding with and all the other assets and computed a letter with the help of the chartered accountant as to what movable and immovable assets i have and of course he certified it. Carried all the original documents of properties and bank accounts etc for the interview
ofc(biometrics) --> was on the 14th of august took not more that 5 minutes to finish the entire process, they click your photograph and also take your finger prints and that's the end of it, also they tell you about the lounge(available in mumbai only) they are offering at 400 rupees per person(its your personal choice to take the lounge before your interview though i didn't take it)
interview --> was on the 21st august at 09:00 hrs, we were told to reach 45 minutes before the interview time i.e 08:15 hrs and all of us reached there at 08:15 hrs, my mother is a wheel chair passenger so we did not have to wait in the long queue outside the consulate , after entering the first gate of the consulate there is a security check and of course try to keep all the electronic items (mobiles, laptops. I-pad etc) in your car or give it to someone whose accompanying you and waiting outside the consulate. For my kid though they allowed all the food stuff we were carrying. After the security check there is a big waiting hall with a lot of chairs where you are made to sit and when you turn comes you have to enter another hall where you will be given a token number stuck on your passport and then proceed to one of the counters where they will re-check your finger print, since my mother was on wheel chair we by-passed the waiting area completely which must have saved at least 45 minutes to one hour, once we entered the other hall where the token as well as finger printing takes place the same place interview also is taken.
After finishing all the formalities our turn came for the interview, all four of us went together to the window where the interview was suppose to be held, the questions asked are as follows
vo --> good morning
me and my family --> good morning sir
vo --> passports please
me --> handed over all the 4 passports
vo--> all four of you are one family
me --> yes
vo--> pointing towards my mother asked is she your mother or mother in law
me --> my mother
vo --> purpose of visit to the u.s
me --> family vacation
vo --> duration of the trip
me --> two weeks
vo--> places u are going to visit
me --> mentioned a few cities of america and also said disney world
vo--> asking me whats your profession
me --> tour manager cum organiser ( i had mentioned this on my ds-160 form also)
vo --> asking me annual income
me --> xxxxxx per annum( my it-returns which i was carrying showed my total income so said whatever was on my it-returns)
vo--> after looking at my mothers passport he asked her why she has gone to iran?
Me --> she replied for sight-seeing and for pilgrimage
to that i added that we used iran as as transit point to enter iraq since there was an embargo in iraq so airports were not operatonal during that time only way to enter iraq was through borders
vo---> asked me again my annual income
me--> same answer as before
vo--> asked me when did my father expire
me --> replied
vo--> asked me when did i get married
me--> replied
vo--> asked me about my previous visit to the u.s and told me to give that particular passport in which i have my previous u.s.visa which had expired in 2011
me--> i told him my mother and i both had traveled to u.s. Before as it was also mentioned in the ds-160 form and i had marked the page in which i had my previous visa so i opened that particular page and handed the passport to the officer
vo--> he stamped on my old visa "cancelled without prejudice" and handed that passport back to me
vo--> and the he said your visas are approved!!!!
And took our passports, no questions to my wife no documents checked, although i must admit that previous visa of u.s. Helped me immensely to acquire the new visa but i am sure and many of you will agree that this is not the only criteria to get visa of u.s, i agree with many applicants who have posted their experiences in the forum that answer the questions very confidently and give honest answers don't try to manipulate as the visa officers are very well trained to catch manipulative answers and for that i again insist to fill your own ds-160 form
collected my passport today and saw 10 year visas printed for all of us!! Cheers!! And all the best to future applicants
if you have any queries and you think i can be of any help please write to me and i will try my level best to reply although the members on this forum are much more experienced then me who had replied to my queries but anyways any questions regarding anything please write on this forum and i will try to answer
also some people have this query that in the ds-160 the visa category type they have typed b1/b2 instead of b2 but and i had done the same mistake in hte ds-160 form but immihelp advice me that both visas are combined when issued so it should not be a problem and it was not a problem at all.
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