Successful Visa Stamping - Chennai Consulate - Nov 2011

[kiran_56]

I have been a regular user of the forum for over 7 years now and thought I would post an update to provide some positive balance to several posts on the visa stamping section.

Both me and my wife went for H1 stamping at the chennai consulate and below is our experience.

Me - 7th yr stamping (2nd renewal, I-140 approval), non-IT background

wife- 2nd H1 stamping, IT background, non-consulting

The process seems pretty chaotic at the consulate these days - it looks like they allow a lot of people inside and there is a whole bunch of people that are waiting for their token numbers to show up on the TV screen in the first building. Another suprising thing is that even though the DS-160 already has an uploaded photograph, they insist on an actual hard-copy photo that they scan - we had taken a copy from CVS - but they said that they background is not white (wonder how?) and had us take a photo by the consul photographer (Rs 100 for 2 photos).

The interview was almost stereo-typical for several folks in my queue. Questions were,

Are you returning back to the US?

Where do you work?

What does your work require you to do?

What is your salary?

Are you at a client-side? (This is important, one guy got a green slip to provide more details on the client location)

How long have you been with the company?

What is the highest level of education?

How many years of work experience?

We got our visas approved and our general impression is that as long as you have all the documents, things are okay, even-though the entire process is a bit nerve-racking (in my last renewal, they asked just one question, but now they asked atleast 6-7). IT folks that are at a client-side, be prepared to show documentation, since they insist on that without which there may be green or other kind of slips requesting more information from your company HR or the client.

Good luck and happy holidays!

[tusharvk]

I have been a regular user of the forum for over 7 years now and thought I would post an update to provide some positive balance to several posts on the visa stamping section.

Both me and my wife went for H1 stamping at the chennai consulate and below is our experience.

Me - 7th yr stamping (2nd renewal, I-140 approval), non-IT background

wife- 2nd H1 stamping, IT background, non-consulting

The process seems pretty chaotic at the consulate these days - it looks like they allow a lot of people inside and there is a whole bunch of people that are waiting for their token numbers to show up on the TV screen in the first building. Another suprising thing is that even though the DS-160 already has an uploaded photograph, they insist on an actual hard-copy photo that they scan - we had taken a copy from CVS - but they said that they background is not white (wonder how?) and had us take a photo by the consul photographer (Rs 100 for 2 photos).

The interview was almost stereo-typical for several folks in my queue. Questions were,

Are you returning back to the US?

Where do you work?

What does your work require you to do?

What is your salary?

Are you at a client-side? (This is important, one guy got a green slip to provide more details on the client location)

How long have you been with the company?

What is the highest level of education?

How many years of work experience?

We got our visas approved and our general impression is that as long as you have all the documents, things are okay, even-though the entire process is a bit nerve-racking (in my last renewal, they asked just one question, but now they asked atleast 6-7). IT folks that are at a client-side, be prepared to show documentation, since they insist on that without which there may be green or other kind of slips requesting more information from your company HR or the client.

Good luck and happy holidays!

congrats. please do post how long it took for you to receive the passport.