It is quite amazing to get many great experiences from our readers from different cities share with you all. Thanks to Prashant, Aman-san and other reader for taking time to craft detail visa stamping experience. Interesting Digital Watch drama… You can share yours here to be shared with our blog readers.
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H1B and H4 Visa Stamping in Mumbai by Prashant
Thank you team for guiding me (thru this forum) for last three years. I always have missed lottery (in last two years) and this time as well as was not much sure and very nervous. I am always been a silent reader on this forum since last three years. Finally, this year was mine… I got lottery this time and on 15th I hear those sweet words “Your Visa has Been Approved” WOW… great great relief. So here is my experience of OFC and Consulate appointments –
Experience at OFC Center for Biometrics – Documents List
14th Sept @ 11:30 AM IST OFC appointment
Documents to Carry :
1) Appointment letter
2) I797 B, C
3) Petition copy
4) All Passports
5) DS160 confirmation, Please make sure that you have correct details in DS160. They verify if very thoroughly. In case of any discrepancy, they will send you back and ask you to refill it.
6) If accompanying with baby (less than 14 yrs old) 2inch by 2inch photo. Photo details are mentioned on the ustraveldocs site.
7) Extra passport size photographs for myself. Don’t need it but still I kept them with me.
My appointment was @ 11:30 AM so I left the hotel @ 10:00 itself my hotel was near Mumbai Consulate but OFC office is little away from my hotel. I reached the place by 10:30 and joined the Q. There were only couple of folks before me in the Q. They asked my wife to go and seat inside as she was having our 10-month-old daughter with her. They checked DS160, passports (current) and entered the area. It was also not crowded. I carried my document and my daughter’s documents with me and went to window.
OFC Interview Questions for H1B Stamping
OFC officer: Good Morning
ME: GM sir
OFC officer: Is this your first time for US VISA?
ME: Yes sir
OO: Why do you want to go to US?
ME: It is good opportunity for me.
OO: Give me documents.
ME: Provided PP and DS160 for me and for my Baby along with photo
He took my photo, took photo of baby’s photo and returned it to me. Then my wife went to another window, they did not ask any question to my wife and she returned in no time.
Day was cool, no hassle, went back to hotel room waiting for tomorrow.
Day 2 – H1B Visa Stamping
15th Sept @ 11:30 AM US consulate
Originally, my appointment was scheduled @ 02:30 PM on 15th Sept but on 14th Sept I got email saying that you can appear as early as 11:30 AM on 15th Sept. So I decided to go early by 11:30 AM.
The documents I carried for H1B Stamping
1) All passports (current as well older)
2) DS160 confirmation
3) I797 B, C originals
4) Petition – Cover letter, I129, Control letter, Educational Evaluation
5) Financial Documents: IT returns last three years, Salary slips, Current company offer letter, Previous Company exp letter, Bank statement last 6 months
6) Educational documents: Engineering mark sheets, Degree certificate, for me as well for my wife.
7) MISC documents: DS160 forms (we really don’t need it), Marriage Album (15-20 photo album should cover main events in marriage), Birth certificate for my child, Marriage certificate (English only with photo is better).
I had all these documents in separate folders (transparent).
At the Consulate, Standing in Queue, other processes
From my hotel room I was able to see the Q in the morning it was huge Q started @ around 7:30 AM but later by 9 – 9:30 no one was there in the Q. I could see people waiting in the waiting lobby. So got relaxed that at least we do not have to wait in the Q it was the case on 14th as well so I had an idea :).
I reached the consulate @ 12:00 (my appointment was at 02:30 but email said you can come as early as11:30). No one was in the Q; they checked my passport and let me in. After security checking they asked us to wait in the lobby. Few people (7-8) were already there waiting. I came to know that it’s lunch time for them so I had to wait little longer till like till 01:00. They handed over one pamphlet to go thru while entering inside waiting lobby. So I read that as my friend who attended interview same day around 11:00 told to go thru it. He got the que on that pamphlet like what that pamphlet is about :).
By 12:30 there were many people waiting inside the waiting area. They started letting people move inside starting 12:30 (Ideally we should have been the first to go inside as we were there early, but don’t know what criteria they were using to send people inside so it got delayed for us, they were asking people who came like at 12:30 to go inside and we were just waiting for them to ask us to go inside). In the mean time my baby took a nap and when we went inside she started her business J moving around, shouting and all J. After entering lady checked for the passports and again we went to another Q. Lady asked us to go in front of one window and wait for our turn.
Consulate officer was lady and she was asking many question to the person in front of me. He was there for business visa. She asked questions until she got satisfactory ans and she granted visa for him.
Now it was my turn. We moved in front of the window –
H1B Visa Interview Questions
ME and MY WIFE: Good Afternoon Mam
Consulate officer: Good Afternoon
CO: Your passports please
ME: Provide with all the passports (older PP as well). She looked at them and returned older passports.
CO: Can I have your petition?
ME: provided petition
CO: So you will be working at client location?
ME: Yes
CO: What will be your salary?
ME: provided annual figure
CO: Your specialization?
ME: Bachelor in electronics and telecommunication engineering
In the mean time she was entering the data on her screen and my baby was trying to go down and we were trying to hold her up. She went cranky and kicked the biometric machine kept in front of us :(.
CO: Can you please hold your baby little away from that?
ME and My WIFE: Sorry for that.
CO: to my wife, what is educational qualification?
My Wife: Provided the details.
CO: What is your role?
ME: provide my role name.
CO: After entering few details, returned my petition and said YOUR VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED.
ME and My WIFE: Thanks a lot Mam.
Couple of things
I was told that since we are from the tier 1 company you won’t get lot many question unless you have some history or some discrepancy in your documents. That held true in my case no detailed questions.
We were not provided with client invite letter by our client instead our company provided alternate document to US embassy and they accepted it. I was worried about questions coming on this. But no question, which was good. Same was the case with my friend who went in the morning.
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H1B + H4 Stamping Experience in – Chennai by Aman-san
I got my H1B + H4 stamped last week, since Redbus2us.com has been my preferred site through the journey I thought it was only appropriate to share my story:
Background : Here’s my timeline:
2012: I had an approved petition in 2012, never got it stamped and eventually left in 2013 for a smaller IT firm.
Nov 2014 – Jan 2015: I got selected for a new role in the US and the clients asked for me to relocate at the earliest. MY case got assigned to a designated law firm and the lawyers seemed confident that my previous approval could get me a “Cap-Exempt” from the 2015 H1B lottery quota. WE applied under premium processing and got an RFE a few days before Christmas. The RFE notes indicated that my case was not Cap exempt since i never got it stamped and pointed out a few clerical errors in the application. I decided to withdraw my application and look at a possible Plan B.
Jan – Feb 2015: I got a new law firm in the US to work on my case and asked them to look at an L1A for quick and easy solution. Everything was in place, everything except a local team in the US reporting to me, the lawyers recommended against an L1 A and asked me to Try the H1B lottery in April 2015.
March – Apr 2015: The paperwork was completed, checked, rechecked and submitted on time. I stumbled upon red2Bus and I could see folks writing and commenting on their notices and statuses. I had filled under premium processing and up until the end of April I hadn’t heard form USCIS. We finally received the Notice via e-mail and Hurray !! I was selected in the lottery.
May – July 2015: Since the case was under PP I assumed i assumed it would take 15 days for USCIS to get back with a response. At first I started checking their website once a day and before I realized I was on it a zillion times a day checking through my laptop, phone and I pad. There were no updates for month, my visa team came back came back stating that my was not filed under PP and that there was once again a “Clerical error” and that the same had been corrected. AS expected within the next 10 days I got a response and It was an RFE.
July – Aug 2015 (RFE): My RFE asked for explanations on why the job required a Bachelor’s degree and asked for over a response to over 20 different points. The response we submitted was hundreds of pages and included things like expert opinions, copies of my work and papers and similar job openings across fortune 500 companies. Around 25th August I finally got my Approval. The pressure was mounting, my clients were getting edgy and the Gym was the only place I could stop thinking about why I had to go through so much paperwork to get a job I was selected on merit. Anyway, the approval came and hey !! I was another step closer.
Aug – Sep 2015 (Consular Appointment and Stamping): Getting an appointment in Chennai can get tricky, each time i logged in the next available date was in December 2015. My visa team asked me to log in during early hours of the day for a suitable date. All other consulates showed availability except Chennai. It took me a few days before i secured myself an appointment for the last week of September.
Experience at OFC: The OFC is pretty straight forward, except for the heat in Chennai and Zero parking space found the OFC building everything worked like clockwork and we (My wife and I) got done with our finger prints and photos within 10 min.
Consular Interview Day – Digital Watch Drama: The consular interview was full of drama. We stood in line for 20 min and right before the big black door the security guard looked at my watch and said I had to deposit it cos it was a digital watch and not a “NARMALL WATCH”. I stood in a rather slow moving line to deposit my watch, after 10 min another guard came and said I didn’t have to deposit it and that I was clear to get in. Once i got in the lady at the X-ray machine took another 5 min to examine the watch and ask me if I could record, click pictures etc. etc. Once I got her to clear me I walked in to the next room where my wife was patiently waiting. The last time I was in for stamping it was 2009, i was fresh out of college and it took me 10 min to get done with everything. This time around I knew it would be a while before I got my stamp.
We stood in line and man there came the rejections one after the other, standing in line watching grown men shrivel is not the morale booster one looks for. We stood in line for 45 minutes and finally got to the counter. The visa officer was polite and asked me about what my company and client did. He was on his system for a while and then pointed out that I had travelled a lot (3 passports) and asked me to name the countries I had visited in the last year. He asked my wife if she was looking forward to the relocation and if she was aware of how could it get. He then gave us the pamphlet with “Worker Rights” and said our visa was approved. My wife’s H4 got updated online first and it took a day for my status to say “Issued”. We collected our passport on the 3rd business day from the interview. Hope you find this article helpful !! – Aman
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H1B Stamping Experience at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia
Hi Guys, This is my turn to share my visa experience.
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Visa Type: H1B
Date: 28 September 2015
My scheduled time was 8AM; I reached location at 7 AM. Guys don’t reach too early unless your time slot is first slot of day. 15min before is fair enough. Around 8:45am they let me go inside. First there will be security check; you need to handover your phone over there (Free of cost) don’t carry any electronics other than phone. Once securities check done you have to enter room where they will take finger prints. In my case no one has taken photo. After finger prints officer passed token number and I was waiting at waiting room. My turn was at 11AM.
My H1B Visa Interview questions in Malaysia :
Me: Good Morning Officer
VO: Passport Please
Me: While giving passport he asked me for I-797B document.
VO: Who is petitioner?
Me: XXXX software solution.
VO: How many employees are working for this company?
Me: XX members
VO: How many employees working on H1 B?
Me: I don’t know officer.
VO: How do you this company?
Me: I applied thru company careers section.
VO: what is your petitioner does?
Me: Software Development and blah blah
VO: How long you were staying in Malaysia?
Me: 18 Months
VO: What is your role here?
Me: Sr. Software Engineer
VO: What is your highest graduation?
Me: B.E (Electronics and communication)
VO: Show me you’re Degree
Me: while showing he asked for employment contract then I passed both. He checked both documents
VO: He showed white pamphlet and asked what this is?
Me: It is a white pamphlet and it explains employee rights in USA
VO: Explain me some rights then
Me: Explained some blah blah, you read before you go. Then he passed my all documents except my passport and he said you can leave. I was with question mark face and looking at VO face. Then he said your visa approved.
All happies 🙂
And I am adding few more questions I was gathered for my interview preparation. Hope those helps.
- Who is your employer?
- Which location will you be working?
- Which location you will be staying? Which area?
- What is your salary?
- Who is your Visa Petitioner?
- What is your role?
- You work for Client or Employer?
- What services does ABCD (Your company name) provide?
- How do you know this petitioner?
- What was interview process?
- Brief me about your duties @ ABCD (Your company name)
- Brief me about ABCD (Your company name)
- Can you brief about your project?
- How many employees are working in Employer Company?
- Currently which company you are working? Where is it located?
- What is your experience?
- What is your role in current company?
- What is your salary in current company?
- When do you indent to fly?
- How long you gonna stay at USA?
- What is your highest level of education?
ALL THE BEST GUYS
Hi Saurabh,
I have valid h1b visa stamped with the current company A, which does not have any projects in US for another 3 months and not sure when they are going to get a US project. Is that fine I can join a new company who can transfer my h1b visa? Is that possible?
Viswa,
Yes, another employer can file a cap-exempt petition for you based on your previous approval. You need approval notice or at least receipt number from old employer.
There is an article on this site where someone has shared his successful experience w/ the same.
Thank you, Saurabh.
Appreciate your quick help and work.
I will check and contact you if I have any concerns.
Thank you for your help.
Viswa
Dear Kumar,
I successfully got my visa stamped at Kolkata embassy.
Please tell how can I share my detailed exp. here on redbus2us.com
Thank you!
Please email it to redbus2us@gmail.com or just use the share experience form http://redbus2us.com/share-your-experience/
May God bless you for sharing this valuable info.
My H1B Stamping Experience in – Chennai 05th and 06th Nov
I had my visa interview on 27th and 28th Oct . I too had had the similar experience. Congrats on your visa approval:)
Thanks and Congrats to you!
Hi
Can somebody help me with h1b interview questions for in house project a sap. I have interview next week.
Thanks in advance
Regards
Preeti
Here was my visa interview experience on 10/28/2015 at New Delhi.
(She was typing something the whole time)
Me: Good morning, seems like a busy day.
VO: Always a busy day here.
Me: And I thought the DMV was bad.
VO: Well, hopefully, we are a little nicer.
Me: True, but it doesn’t take much to beat DMV standards.
VO: When did you graduate?
ME: XX
VO: What did you study?
Me: XX at XX University. It is pretty cold up there.
VO: Yeah, my daughter goes to XX, so I have some idea.
Me: Really? They are such similar colleges.
VO: Did you study in India before leaving for the States?
Me: Well, I did my high school here, if that counts.
VO: What’s your designation?
Me: XX
VO: What does your company do?
Me: XX
VO: And final question, what is your salary?
Me : XX
VO: How long have you been waiting here?
Me: Like more than an hour.
VO: Well, you dont have to wait any longer.
Me: Wait, does that mean it is approved?
VO: Yeah, you will get your passport soon.
Me: Great, thanks. Have a good one.
Hi ,
My H1b was approved for Client A in xx location. Project with Client A has ended. Now, I am working with Client B which is in yy location. I don’t have client letters from Client A. Can I go to visa stamping with Client A approved petition. Some body has suggested me to file LCA for Client B location and then go for Visa stamping. After Visa stamping they asked me continue with H1b Amendment process.
Can you please help me what to do ?
Thanks
H1B_doubt,
My suggested route would be to get new LCA, get H-1 amended and finally appear for visa stamping.
Thank you Saurabh. I work in a MNC company. My visa team has suggested me to go for stamping as soon as LCA for new location is filed. Is advisable to for stamping ?? Is LCA document alone sufficient to get visa stamping for the new location.
Please advice me which way is safe.
Thanks
H1B_doubts,
Safest is what I suggested. But you should go w/ your attorneys are suggesting as they are eventually responsible for your immigration fate.
Hi,
There is question is D160. “Do you belong to or contributed to charitable organization”. I have done some donations in past, so should be list the name? Does this affect the decision.
My cousin(sister) got h1b approved. She is in Dhaka,Bangladesh. She has a baby (3 years old). She should apply single or with family? what are the document list for dependent?
samantha,
She should complete one DS-160 form for each family member. I don’t know about the US consulate in Dhaka, but she can check if interview is waived for the child. If so, then she can appear for interview herself and carry DS forms and passport for herself and her child.
Documents required for dependents include passport, birth certificate (if available). There should be something to show that your friend is indeed the mother.
thank u so much Saurabh. She has husband also. is there any possibility like if she apply with husband and baby, she will reject by visa consulor. or she should apply with her family (both husband n baby) ?
samantha,
Yes, husband can accompany too. She needs to complete 3 DS-160 forms – one for each family member. Then check w/ US consulate there is kids can be exempted from personal appearance. She and her husband can then appear visa interview together. At least in India, it allows you to book an appointment as family appointment so that all people are the window together. Not sure about Dhaka.
Documents needed from the husband include passport, DS-160 form, marriage certificate, wedding card/album – the officer needs to ascertain that they are indeed married.
Saurabh,
Thank you very much! I forgot to mention one important thing. My cousin saying.. there was an option in petition like – dependent or no dependent. The petitioner filled for “No dependent”. Now if she go for stamping with family, will it arise any question?
Another thing is, if she go for stamping alone; and her spouse and baby apply once she get visa, before her travel to US, then? I mean is it possible?
Samatha,
That was ok option to select. She can have dependents now.
She can either go for visa stamping first and her family can appear later, or everyone can appear together. Her wish. Personally, I prefer everyone appearing together.
Hi Samantha,
I assume she had already been through the process (as I am responding a month later), otherwise we can share what we did for our h1b visa interview –
1. We filled up 2 DS-160 (for me and my wife)
3. Paid money at EBL branch
3. Booked appointment from the ustraveldocs.com
4. Appeared on the appointed date
During interview –
1. Ask about the company
3. Asked about our last US trip
4. Then after few chit chats they gave us a slip with ‘Visa approved notice’ and asked for collecting after 5 days.
Hope this help.
Hello Hasan, r u from Bangladesh?
Yes, I am from Bangladesh.
Hello Kumar/ Saurabh,
It seems my company doesn’t have project in USA, the one is in petition doesn’t have position available. Could you please guide me for the next steps? shall i start looking outside?
ACC-H1B,
Find another employer and ask them to file a cap-exempt petition for you (aka H-1 transfer). Once approved, you can appear for visa stamping through new employer and then travel to US to work for them. If the visa is already stamped, then no new visa stamp is required.
Hello saurabh, thanks a lot for your prompt response, if possible kinldy share your contact number or direct email id, i really need to discuss..
Acc-H1B,
You can contact me through the contact link in the footer. Just address the question to me, and Kumar will fwd it to me.
H1B + H4 Stamping Experience in – Chennai
I got my H1B + H4 stamped yesterday, Redbus2us has been my preferred site through the journey, thanks for all your support guys all of you.
Experience at OFC: The OFC is pretty straight forward, no parking space found the OFC building everything worked like clockwork and we (My wife and I) got done with our finger prints and photos within 10 min. The strange thing I found was mobile phone are allowed, but my suggestion don’t go with it, I kept it in hotel.
Consular Interview Day: The appointment was booked at 10AM in the morning and we reached around 8:50AM and right way the process started. We showed the passport which had a sticker put on the back by OFC officers. We were allowed to get in for security check, before that you can keep you mobile and other personal belonging if you have any at once counter which was paid I guess.
Then we went to security check and once done went to next building where our finger prints where verified and we moved forward for the final visa interview.
Me: Good Morning Officer
VO: Passport Please
Me: Just passed the Passport.
VO: How many year you are working for this company?
Me: This is a new employment Officer
VO: Oh new! What the name of the company?
Me: XX LLC
VO: How much they are going to pay you?
Me: XXX USD per annum
VO: Are you going to work for Client?
Me: No I will be working for XX LLC and they have clients.
VO: Which client?
Me: YYY
VO: Do you have a client letter.
Me: Officer I am going to work from XX LLC office for YYY client. So I don’t have any client letter.
Here start the war, he was looking out for more details for client and also need more and more info on what I was going to do for this client.
VO: Do you have a project details.
Me: No officer, I don’t have it.
VO: Can you pass your I129.
Me: Passed the documents to him.
VO: Typing lot of things on this desktop….
VO: Put his mike on mute and started talking to a old lady standing behind her.
VO: Do you have any client details.
Me: Passed the SOW documents.
VO: Went thorough the details and again started typing and getting details he needed.
VO: To my wife how many children do you have?
Wife: None Officer!
VO: Put his mike on mute and started talking to a old lady standing behind her.
VO: [Now the thing we are waiting for] Your visa is approved and passed on the white pamphlet [It is a pamphlet that explains your rights as a foreign workers in U.S.] Have a nice stay in US
Me and my Wife: Thank you office have a nice day ahead.
Too much pressure was put on client details and don’t know what he was doing on his desktop and also what discussion he had with lady behind her. I went through two B1/B2 visa interview and this one. This was a bit different experience with lady standing behind her and all the details which he ask for regarding the client. But all in all a great experience for me.
Just keep your cool and share all the details you have, don’t fake anything and you will be through.
Congrats ! Thanks for sharing.
I wana share my H1B stamping exp. at Kolkata embassy.
Would you mind posting it for others on your blog?
Thank you!
There is name change required in my I 797 document and my employer said they have filed H1 Amendment for Name change
I want to know,will there be any problem in this? And how many days it will take now,to get the update?
Please some body clarify me. for obvious reasons,little tensed!!!
H1 Ammendment,
Amendment takes 1-2 months to process. Actual time can be looked up on USCIS site for your processing center. Should be trivial and shouldn’t result in denial.
My H1b stamping yet to be scheduled by my employer. Recently I found a single character mistake(wife name) in my passport. Will that affect getting H4 for my wife? Or getting a updated passport(before stamping) will cause any issue since I’ve submitted the old PP during initial h1b process?
Thanks,
prakash
Dhayalan,
Its better to correct the passport and then go for stamping. When issuing visa they may rely on passport information and this may cause issues in the long run when inside US.
Please Find the Questions asked by visa officer (VO)
sep 15th interview 2015
[no documents were asked to show ]
VO: Good Morning! How are you doing today
ME: I am good Mam , how are you doing
VO:Good ,Who is your petitioner
ME:xxxx
VO:How long have you been working with xxxx
ME:This is a new opportunity mam
VO:Whats your Role
ME:I will be working as Software Engg
VO:How many employees do they have
ME: 53 as of now and 10 more expected in next few months
VO:who is your Client
ME:xxxxx
VO:Salary in US
ME:xx thousand per annum
VO:who is your current employer and current job role
ME: currently working for xxxx as Software Engg for past 4yrs
VO:Client place where you will work
ME:xx ,PA
VO:what is your highest degree
ME:I have masters degree in Software Engg
VO:Congratulations Sir your visa has been approved , do read the white paper (about the rights in US) before you go
and have a nice day
ME:Thankyou , you have nice day aswell
i have a doubt. My case is approved. But name in approval letter has come wrongly. Only my sur name has come. is that a problem? can we get it changed? Am tensed completely. PLease help me in this..
doubt,
Your employer should file H-1 amendment to get the name corrected.
Is that any any big deal? will there be any problem??
It should be simple and shouldn’t cause any denials or issues. Ask the employer to have it filed soon.
Thanks for sharing