hi all,
I am posting a slightly more detailed version of my CP interview and POE experience. Everything went smoothly, and nothing was different from experiences gathered earlier.
* I stayed in a club in egmore as a guest of one of the members. avoided the luxury tax completely. had amble space to return to after wandering about during the day in chennai's heat and dust. was reasonably close to all required offices.
* mostly kept to club's kitchen, since I had decent experience with water and food there. thus kept my stomach reasonably trouble-free. Also checked out Komalas near Konica Lab, both bufe and fastfood. good.
* for out-of-towners : pre-paid taxi is a stress-free albeit costly option to get you to the place-of-stay from airport. call taxi is a similar service of in-city commutes. never hail autos if you are exiting from a reasonable hotel and they see you that way, or if you are going to a place which spells $$. walk a little and hail the auto. ask locals for reasonable autofares, and settle at +- 5 of those. use calltaxi for consulate trips.
medicals and listerlab where prettymuch like what others had posted. did both the same day, 4 days before the interview. spent the rest fo the days visiting friends, shopping,etc. myself and wife had to take the cpox vaccine too, which increased our medicals bill by 3000. Dr. V is efficient and quick, only all other applicants know that too.
met one chap who was not holding a current job in US, but was being petitioned for by a firm he was going to work for.
took drafts from indian bank branch nearby.
took a day off before the interview and stayed inside almost all day.
on the interview day reached consulate at 7.00 am, with only plastic bags. there was a line of ppl with appt letters already. they started letting ppl in at 7.15 . while standing in line, becareful that no birds anoint you from the tree abv. it was interesting to see a sentry with what appeared to be an AK47-like machinegun shooing an autodriver away. he still managed to get a few 'drafts sir?' in.
NIV applicants wait inside the courtyard under a shelter while IV applicants are straightaway directed to a waiting room.
sometime after 8.00 they told to arrange and submit docs. oddly, no order was mentioned then. so thought the additional order sheet had become a thing of past and started arrnaging using the P4 order. halfway through this, the security guy started flashing an ordersheet!! (that's the one Pat Srinivas had posted)
doesnot even give a copy of it, just gives it and collects it back. wonder what they are saving by not giving a sheet. huh. anyway, made a single bunch and submitted.
** the collecting official wanted separate sets for myself and wife. separated docs at the counter. got bluedart slip to fill in.
the oath taking was done soon afterwards. thru the whole interview this was the only time an american officer spoke to us. he adminstered the english oath.
ppl with kids etc were called first and were out soon. no order semed to be in place. they would just grab a file from the pile near them, and call.
first they called the verify docs. they had misplaced my birth and marriage cert copies (thank god not the originals). gave them. he asked about my total experience and where i had gotten my previous visa stamps in passing. told me that I would be called again. submitted bluedart DD.
after a wait, a second officer called me and wife to tell us that the visas were approved, and we could pay the fees and go. went to cash counter and paid the fees and left.
in contrast, family based applicants were bieng interviewd for longer times.
apparently you can pay the fees in $$ too, someone did that since they had forgotten the drafts.
received the packet next day at the club. had to give a copy of the receipt for fees and first page of my passport to get the copy from bluedart.
while coming back, only the airline security guy ( not the emmigration at mumbai!) asked me for the visa I was going out on, and wanted to see that. the emmigration just looked at the passport and stamped exit date. I guess ECNR stamp helps.
POE was smooth. stood in the visitors line (Boston) and told the officer about the NIV. he took the folders, opened them, and stampd an arrival date. then he took the folders over to another area, where we waited for a little while. another guy called us after about 15 min, and put our fingerprints and signatures on a form, and stamped the temp GC. told us to expect the cards withing that time, and to apply for SSNs. that it, we were done. customs guy cleared us with a namaste at the end.
I shall answer any questions anyone might have for a while, either post here or mail to manishr01@yahoo.com
if anyone is interested in maintaining chennaicp.tripod.com, do let me know, I shall provide you with the password and zipped files.
I am posting a slightly more detailed version of my CP interview and POE experience. Everything went smoothly, and nothing was different from experiences gathered earlier.
* I stayed in a club in egmore as a guest of one of the members. avoided the luxury tax completely. had amble space to return to after wandering about during the day in chennai's heat and dust. was reasonably close to all required offices.
* mostly kept to club's kitchen, since I had decent experience with water and food there. thus kept my stomach reasonably trouble-free. Also checked out Komalas near Konica Lab, both bufe and fastfood. good.
* for out-of-towners : pre-paid taxi is a stress-free albeit costly option to get you to the place-of-stay from airport. call taxi is a similar service of in-city commutes. never hail autos if you are exiting from a reasonable hotel and they see you that way, or if you are going to a place which spells $$. walk a little and hail the auto. ask locals for reasonable autofares, and settle at +- 5 of those. use calltaxi for consulate trips.
medicals and listerlab where prettymuch like what others had posted. did both the same day, 4 days before the interview. spent the rest fo the days visiting friends, shopping,etc. myself and wife had to take the cpox vaccine too, which increased our medicals bill by 3000. Dr. V is efficient and quick, only all other applicants know that too.
met one chap who was not holding a current job in US, but was being petitioned for by a firm he was going to work for.
took drafts from indian bank branch nearby.
took a day off before the interview and stayed inside almost all day.
on the interview day reached consulate at 7.00 am, with only plastic bags. there was a line of ppl with appt letters already. they started letting ppl in at 7.15 . while standing in line, becareful that no birds anoint you from the tree abv. it was interesting to see a sentry with what appeared to be an AK47-like machinegun shooing an autodriver away. he still managed to get a few 'drafts sir?' in.
NIV applicants wait inside the courtyard under a shelter while IV applicants are straightaway directed to a waiting room.
sometime after 8.00 they told to arrange and submit docs. oddly, no order was mentioned then. so thought the additional order sheet had become a thing of past and started arrnaging using the P4 order. halfway through this, the security guy started flashing an ordersheet!! (that's the one Pat Srinivas had posted)
doesnot even give a copy of it, just gives it and collects it back. wonder what they are saving by not giving a sheet. huh. anyway, made a single bunch and submitted.
** the collecting official wanted separate sets for myself and wife. separated docs at the counter. got bluedart slip to fill in.
the oath taking was done soon afterwards. thru the whole interview this was the only time an american officer spoke to us. he adminstered the english oath.
ppl with kids etc were called first and were out soon. no order semed to be in place. they would just grab a file from the pile near them, and call.
first they called the verify docs. they had misplaced my birth and marriage cert copies (thank god not the originals). gave them. he asked about my total experience and where i had gotten my previous visa stamps in passing. told me that I would be called again. submitted bluedart DD.
after a wait, a second officer called me and wife to tell us that the visas were approved, and we could pay the fees and go. went to cash counter and paid the fees and left.
in contrast, family based applicants were bieng interviewd for longer times.
apparently you can pay the fees in $$ too, someone did that since they had forgotten the drafts.
received the packet next day at the club. had to give a copy of the receipt for fees and first page of my passport to get the copy from bluedart.
while coming back, only the airline security guy ( not the emmigration at mumbai!) asked me for the visa I was going out on, and wanted to see that. the emmigration just looked at the passport and stamped exit date. I guess ECNR stamp helps.
POE was smooth. stood in the visitors line (Boston) and told the officer about the NIV. he took the folders, opened them, and stampd an arrival date. then he took the folders over to another area, where we waited for a little while. another guy called us after about 15 min, and put our fingerprints and signatures on a form, and stamped the temp GC. told us to expect the cards withing that time, and to apply for SSNs. that it, we were done. customs guy cleared us with a namaste at the end.
I shall answer any questions anyone might have for a while, either post here or mail to manishr01@yahoo.com
if anyone is interested in maintaining chennaicp.tripod.com, do let me know, I shall provide you with the password and zipped files.