This is my experience at the Chennai consulate. I went to India in Oct, applied for revalidation through drop-box at TT services on roughly Oct 14. I put in all the suggested documents including the payslips for the calendar year 2003, all W-2s, federal returns, photograph of the office building, annual report for my company, brochures etc and of course the necessary documents like the I-797, H-1B petition, my educational certificates, previous work experience letters, letter from employer, the application forms and Demand drafts.
I got back the whole lot through courier 2 days later with a 221(g) form saying that I had to make an appointment with the consulate for a personal interview. The reason quoted was in the "other" category and said that the salary I have made this year does not match the quoted salary on the LCA. This was however not true. I have switched employers this year and have been employed with my current employer only since July. So, the YTD gross on the last payslip will be much less than the salary calculated for 10 months on my current salary.
Now, for those of you who don't know ( I didn't until then), the consulate usually sends out one of 2 forms in such cases, the 221(g) or the 214(b) (I think). The 214 usually indicates a more serious problem. The 221(g) is usually sent out in cases where they need more documentation.
The 221(g) is a standard printed form containing several sections. It basically starts out by saying that we are sorry we cannot issue your visa at this time because of the following reasons.
The first section tells you what to do
a) come for an interview at the consulate. Interview has to be booked through Tt services.Mine had this checked.
b) apply through drop-box after making the reqd changes.
c) come to the consulate without an appointment mon-fri at these times.
Then the relevant sections are checked to indicate what the problem is.
For example, there is one that says that the DD is not of the right amount or that the photograph is not of the right size. there are more serious reasons too like one saying that we think you may be a possible immigrant.
I had nothing checked here.
Then it had a section containing pre-defined other documentation reasons and more info they need from your company etcetc. Mine was in the "other" portion here and the officer had written down the reason in this line.
At this point, I was pretty much shocked and unsure about what was going to happen. My company is a fairly large US based company listed in NASDAQ.I had not expected this. I tried for an interview slot through the TT services website. The first open slot was for Nov 3rd, and I had booked my return flight for Nov 2nd. talked to TT services whose standard response is that they cannot help and the whole system is automated. The trick I figured later is that a lot of people book appointments as soon as they can for fear that there will be nothing available later. But later for whatever reasons they are not able to make it and they cancel. So keep trying again and again. I noticed lots of slots suddenly opening up in the evening. Maybe their system hoards all cancelled slots and opens them all up at once. If you try in the evening though, you cannot book anything for the very next day.
Another thing to keep in mind is you can cancel your appointment only till the previous day 2 pm. If you have an appointment for sometime tomorrow and you don't cancel it today by 2 pm, you have to go. They take your name and passport number at the time of booking the appointment, so I'm not sure what backlash there will be if you book an appointment and don't go for it.
Anyway, in this way I got an appointment for later in the month. Earlier slots were available, but I waited till I got a letter from my employer saying that there is no discrepancy whatsoever and the salary matches the one quoted on the LCA. I wanted to be fully prepared for the interview and not give them any reason to reject my application.
The day of the interview, went to the consulate about half an hour early, they let you in after security checks. You pay the courier fees first ( I had to pay it twice, apparently if you go the consulate and have to come back again to the consulate, you don't pay the courier fees again.) Then go to the cash counter where they look at your DDs and give you a ticket-like slip and ask you to go to one of the counters next to him.
At the counter, they take you DS-156 application form, the documents being submitted ( In my case she gave me back all the brochures, my educational certificates and said I could show them myself to the officer at the time of the interview) and ask you to go for the interview.
the interview is in an adjacent building, there are about 10 windows, a seating area. When a consular officer finishes the pile in front of him, he picks up a fresh pile of applications and gives all the numbers for those applications to a guy who roams around in that area. That guy then shouts out the numbers and you go and stand in that order.
When my turn came, I decided to explain myself instead of waiting for her to figure it out. I explained what had happened and she asked me when I had joined my current employer. I told her July, she said she can understand how they made that mistake in the drop-box. She then looked at my W-2s, as far as I could see, she made sure that the company name on those W-2s was not the same as the company name on my current I-797.
She then said fine, go ahead and pay the fees. And returned back everything except my passport. She did not even keep the photocopies.
I then gave the Demand drafts at another counter. If they reject you for some reason, you don't pay the DD. So, if you pay the DD, you can be sure that you will get your visa.
Got back my passport the next day. Phew!!
The whole thing was highly stressful, I would say avoid the consulates esp the Madras consulate if you can. Apply to the state dept and relax. One more funny thing I noticed is that the list of required documents for revalidation is drastically different in the Chennai consulate and the Delhi, bombay and calcutta consulates. Only the Chennai consulate asks for all the brochures, tax returns, company photographs, payslips. The list quoted on the Bombay consulate was the basic list that we send to the State dept. Don't know if you get stuck after going to the consulate when they ask for all this stuff.
Well, thats it !! Hope this helps someone..
I got back the whole lot through courier 2 days later with a 221(g) form saying that I had to make an appointment with the consulate for a personal interview. The reason quoted was in the "other" category and said that the salary I have made this year does not match the quoted salary on the LCA. This was however not true. I have switched employers this year and have been employed with my current employer only since July. So, the YTD gross on the last payslip will be much less than the salary calculated for 10 months on my current salary.
Now, for those of you who don't know ( I didn't until then), the consulate usually sends out one of 2 forms in such cases, the 221(g) or the 214(b) (I think). The 214 usually indicates a more serious problem. The 221(g) is usually sent out in cases where they need more documentation.
The 221(g) is a standard printed form containing several sections. It basically starts out by saying that we are sorry we cannot issue your visa at this time because of the following reasons.
The first section tells you what to do
a) come for an interview at the consulate. Interview has to be booked through Tt services.Mine had this checked.
b) apply through drop-box after making the reqd changes.
c) come to the consulate without an appointment mon-fri at these times.
Then the relevant sections are checked to indicate what the problem is.
For example, there is one that says that the DD is not of the right amount or that the photograph is not of the right size. there are more serious reasons too like one saying that we think you may be a possible immigrant.
I had nothing checked here.
Then it had a section containing pre-defined other documentation reasons and more info they need from your company etcetc. Mine was in the "other" portion here and the officer had written down the reason in this line.
At this point, I was pretty much shocked and unsure about what was going to happen. My company is a fairly large US based company listed in NASDAQ.I had not expected this. I tried for an interview slot through the TT services website. The first open slot was for Nov 3rd, and I had booked my return flight for Nov 2nd. talked to TT services whose standard response is that they cannot help and the whole system is automated. The trick I figured later is that a lot of people book appointments as soon as they can for fear that there will be nothing available later. But later for whatever reasons they are not able to make it and they cancel. So keep trying again and again. I noticed lots of slots suddenly opening up in the evening. Maybe their system hoards all cancelled slots and opens them all up at once. If you try in the evening though, you cannot book anything for the very next day.
Another thing to keep in mind is you can cancel your appointment only till the previous day 2 pm. If you have an appointment for sometime tomorrow and you don't cancel it today by 2 pm, you have to go. They take your name and passport number at the time of booking the appointment, so I'm not sure what backlash there will be if you book an appointment and don't go for it.
Anyway, in this way I got an appointment for later in the month. Earlier slots were available, but I waited till I got a letter from my employer saying that there is no discrepancy whatsoever and the salary matches the one quoted on the LCA. I wanted to be fully prepared for the interview and not give them any reason to reject my application.
The day of the interview, went to the consulate about half an hour early, they let you in after security checks. You pay the courier fees first ( I had to pay it twice, apparently if you go the consulate and have to come back again to the consulate, you don't pay the courier fees again.) Then go to the cash counter where they look at your DDs and give you a ticket-like slip and ask you to go to one of the counters next to him.
At the counter, they take you DS-156 application form, the documents being submitted ( In my case she gave me back all the brochures, my educational certificates and said I could show them myself to the officer at the time of the interview) and ask you to go for the interview.
the interview is in an adjacent building, there are about 10 windows, a seating area. When a consular officer finishes the pile in front of him, he picks up a fresh pile of applications and gives all the numbers for those applications to a guy who roams around in that area. That guy then shouts out the numbers and you go and stand in that order.
When my turn came, I decided to explain myself instead of waiting for her to figure it out. I explained what had happened and she asked me when I had joined my current employer. I told her July, she said she can understand how they made that mistake in the drop-box. She then looked at my W-2s, as far as I could see, she made sure that the company name on those W-2s was not the same as the company name on my current I-797.
She then said fine, go ahead and pay the fees. And returned back everything except my passport. She did not even keep the photocopies.
I then gave the Demand drafts at another counter. If they reject you for some reason, you don't pay the DD. So, if you pay the DD, you can be sure that you will get your visa.
Got back my passport the next day. Phew!!
The whole thing was highly stressful, I would say avoid the consulates esp the Madras consulate if you can. Apply to the state dept and relax. One more funny thing I noticed is that the list of required documents for revalidation is drastically different in the Chennai consulate and the Delhi, bombay and calcutta consulates. Only the Chennai consulate asks for all the brochures, tax returns, company photographs, payslips. The list quoted on the Bombay consulate was the basic list that we send to the State dept. Don't know if you get stuck after going to the consulate when they ask for all this stuff.
Well, thats it !! Hope this helps someone..