H1 Visa Revalidation Interview at Chennai - Experience
Friends
I had an interview at Chennai consulate on 19 April for revalidating my H1 Visa and here are the details
My first H1B was issued at Chennai in April 1999, I had revalidated the visa in DC in March 2002.
Interview date 19th April - 8:45 to 9:00 am
Stood in the line by 8:40 am (about 10 people at that time, many people were already inside) was inside by 8:50, (they were allowing people with later appointments like 9.30 am also to go in).
First went to the TTS counter and paid tts fees by cash (Rs 400), then paid the 4600 rupees DD at the next counter(Write PassPort# and Name at the back of the DD's) where I received token number (3 stubs), then arranged all the documents in the order written on the black board across from the counters.
Next stood in line for one of the many counters to submit the documents, the lady at the counter did not look very happy at her job, (she was not rude though). I submitted the documents, mainly DS156,157 , I797 orginal, I129 and LCA (attorney certified copies), Paystubs for 2004, W2's & tax returns for 1999-2003, Employer Letter, Degree certificates (I submitted photocopy, but she asked me for original). I had not glued or stapled the photograph on the DS 156, she made a comment that I should pay her for stapling my photo onto the form (jokingly and I told her I would be glad to). She looked at the papers, entered something into the computer, returned the I-129, LCA, tax returns, paystubs (she kept only the DS 156, DS 157, I-797, employer letter, degree certificate and W2s). She even returned the attachment to Form DS 157 where I had written the list of countries I had visited and the details of my previous employers. She stapled one token on my passport, put all documents in a file, returned one of the tokens to me and asked me to go to the next building for the interview.
Went to the next building (around 9.10am) and waited in the main hall, almost 70% of the seats in the hall were filled, so many people had got in before me, my token number was called (around 9.55am).
Was asked the following Questions by the person at the counter:
1) What visa are you applying?
2) What company are you working for?
3) What do you do there? While I was answering, he was having a conversation with two of his acolleagues, so I doubt whether he listened to my answer (I am working as a ship surveyor, not related to IT industry)
4) Have you been doing the same work in the US all these years (since 1999) - I said yes, (even though I had changed employers once)
5) what is your Pay?
5) Is your family still in the US? Yes
6) Why didn't they accompany you this time? I explained that I had come for a short trip only to participate in function in connection with my father passing away last year. He stated that he was sorry to hear about my father.
I was asked to go to the next counter and pay my visa fees (DD for Rs 2300).
I went ahead and paid the fees at the counter, was out by 10:05 am
Most of the people had no difficullty during the interview, but another interviewer was asking some technical questions to IT people (one person stated that his job was designing networks, he was asked to explain the various steps involved one by one), one person who appeared for a visitors visa was refused visa (I believe he had asked for 4 month business visa to attend some seminar/conference etc, he was asked to explain his actual itinerary/program in the US, his answer did not satisfy the officer).
I received the passport with the visa stamp on the third day (22nd April) by Speed Post (small town in Kerala, hence TTS did not use courier service, however they had posted the passport on 19th itself).
I am back in the US now.
Gopal
