My Gateway to the U.S - L1B Blanket VISA Interview Experience

Annually approximately 37 million people from across the world visit the United States of America for business or work or studies or personal purpose. Everyone's gateway to the U.S is a VISA. There are 185 different types of VISA and broadly fall under Immigrant or Non-Immigrant VISA.

• Non-Immigrant VISA - for temporary visits such as tourism, business, work or studying.
• Immigrant VISA - for people to immigrate to the United States. 

My gateway to the U.S was L1B Blanket VISA which was filed by my Employer based on my specialized knowledge of proprietary application. (Refer Wiki VISA for more details of VISA types)

The overall processing time before I got an appointment for Bio-metric and VISA Interview was approximately 4 months. I had my Bio-metric and VISA Interview appointment at U.S Consulate Chennai, India in the month of March, 2017. Read on further to know my experience of these in detail.

Biometric Appointment: 22nd March 2017 3:00 pm IST at U.S Biometrics center on Kodambakkam High Rd, Nungambakkam, Chennai, India

I reached the biometrics center by 2.20 pm. Luckily I did not have to run around last minute near the U.S Consulate to leave my phone with someone reliable or some place safe unlike most people who had to leave their phone with a street vendor for INR 10.00. I was instructed by Immigration Department (Employer) not to carry any electronic devices including cellphone and so I had left the same in my room at the Hotel. I carried all the required documents including DS-160 and Indian Passport. I had verified all my documents many times so I did not have any trouble getting inside unlike few unfortunate ones where details on their DS-160 did not match with that on their Passport and other documents and had to go outside and get a new corrected DS-160 from the agents around the U.S Consulate Office at very high price (~ INR 2000 for one DS-160). This was the case more with the aged parents who were not familiar with the process and were there for Tourist VISA to visit their children in the U.S. 

I was on the queue for my slot and was let in around ten minutes before my slot time, once everyone in the previous slot were in. My documents was verified inside and was made to stand in another queue for photo and fingerprints collection. The entire process took around 30 minutes and I was handed over my passport with a small sticker at the back and instructed not to remove it till VISA Interview. I was outside the building completing the entire process by 3.30 pm.

VISA Interview Appointment: 23rd March 2017 9:00 am IST at U.S Consulate, near Gemini Circle, Chennai, India

Dressed in formals, I reached the U.S Consulate office approximately 45 minutes prior to my appointment with all the required documents. I joined the queue on the footpath besides the road for entry to U.S Consulate. After security check and verification outside, we were let inside the compound only to undergo detailed security check again inside. After this we were led to a long  hallway where people were directed to two different lines based on type of VISA. I was directed to a different waiting area on the opposite side of the two queues in the hallway and asked to arrange my documents as per Checklist provided for Document verification. I realized this was being done only for L1 applicants. After 15 minutes or so, an officer arrived and asked all of us seated in the waiting area to proceed for document verification. After our documents were verified, we were asked to join one of the two queues from where we proceeded to the main building for VISA Interview.

After standing in the queue for 20-30 minutes, we were let inside the main building. 

The main building was like a presidential fort guarded by several commandos and private security.

This building had several tiers of security and it seemed like I was in one of the safest places on Earth. Anybody would have a tough time sneaking in before being shot or tazed.

Once inside the building, I could see several applicants standing in different queues. While I was wondering if I had to go though all these queues before my final interview, a guard directed me to a waiting area for L1 applicants. I sat there looking at the other applicants who were waiting as anxiously as I was, without knowing what to expect next. In no time, we were directed to a window for ID verification and payment of Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee. After I paid my fees and had my photo and biometrics verified, I was directed to wait in the main hall with other applicants for my turn looking at the Monitor to see the window where I needed to go for my VISA Interview.

Within no time, it was my turn to go to Window 22 for my interview. I paced to the Window 22 and was greeted warmly by the VISA Officer (VO). 

Me : Good morning Sir. How are you?

VO : Very Good morning Sir.  Thank you.

         Please pass me your passport and all the documents.

Passed all the documents in the slot provided at the bottom of the window.

VO : So you work for XYZ?

Me : Yes Sir

VO : Do you know which Category of VISA you are applying for? L1A or L1B Blanket?

Me : L1B Blanket Sir

VO : L1B Blanket. That means specialized skill set. Please describe shortly your specialized skill.

Me : My specialized skill is knowledge of application ABC which is a proprietary application of XYZ and we are currently developing it.

VO : You are developing it?

Me : Yes Sir

VO : How long are you planning to go?

Me : 'N' Months

VO : Okay

VO think for few seconds and enter few things on the system. After few TENSE SECONDS which seemed like forever.

VO : You can relax. Your VISA is approved.  I am just doing some paper work. Allow me two minutes to stamp your documents.

Finally I had a big satisfied smile on my face and was jumping inside for I had got an approval to enter United States of America, the land of infinite Opportunities. 

VO handed all my documents back retaining one copy of I-129S, I-797 and Passport. I was told I would receive my Passport in 7-10 days with VISA in the Collection Center that I had entered while 

submitting my application.

This was my experience of L1B Interview. If you enjoyed reading this post and was helpful, please leave your comments for more such posts. 

Applying for SSN in U.S.A with FNU or LNU

Most people are elated once their U.S VISA is approved. Why should they not be? They are traveling to the Land of Opportunities, the Land of Possibilities. Living in the U.S is a dream for many people across the world. For some it is the freedom which the land offers and for some it is the money, while some may want to live here for the overall experience. Most people have a hassle free experience while staying in the US. However, some not-so-fortunate immigrants face lot of challenges due to mismatch of names in their VISA and Passport. The most common problem is FNU or LNU.

FNU aka First Name Unknown or LNU aka Last Name Unknown are those people who have FNU/LNU stamped in their US VISA when either First Name or Given Name is blank in the Passport as both First Name and Last Name are mandatory for the US VISA. This will not pose a problem for those on short visit. However, for those intending to stay longer, their names in VISA is the beginning of all the problems. One may wonder why this is a problem when you have entered the country legally with a valid VISA. This is due to mismatch of names in PASSPORT and VISA. More often than not you may be addressed as "FNU" or "LNU".

If your name in the Passport for example is just "ABC" (First Name/Given Name), then the name in the VISA will be stamped as "FNU ABC" or "ABC LNU" indicating no first name or no Last Name. Due to this mismatch of names in the documents, applying for Social Security Number (SSN) and having it approved is a very big challenge. Hence many applicants end up waiting for several months or even have their SSN applications rejected several times in spite of furnishing all the necessary documents. It is not impossible to get SSN with FNU/LNU in VISA, however it is quite a challenge.

Many articles/posts/people suggest having the name split in the Passport or change the names in the Passport for the sake of getting an SSN and all other documents. It is best to have your name corrected in the Passport when in your Home country. However, you need not fret if you are already in U.S.A with this problem. Having faced the same problem and overcome it, I have found an easy way to have the SSN approved in short time without any additional expense or changing name in the Passport.

Once you have your SSN application submitted, your local SSA office may issue a letter indicating that your SSN may take up to 4 weeks against normal 2 Weeks. The letter would also mention that the application has been sent to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for clearance. This is the first yellow flag that there has been a problem with your SSN application due to the details provided. You can ask the SSA officer to elaborate.

Immigration details at the port of Entry are saved in an USCIS application called SAVE, which is the Central application used by all Federal/State Government agencies for Immigrants verification including Social Security Office.
The status of every verification inquiry sent to SAVE application can be checked on the USCIS website - https://www.uscis.gov/save/casecheck

You just need one of the following valid IDs to check the SAVE Case details.

• Verification Case Number
• Alien/USCIS Number
• I-94 Number
• Citizenship Certificate Number
• Naturalization Number
• SEVIS Id
• Passport

Once you submit the form with valid ID details, you will see the SAVE CASE details as below.

In case you see a tick mark against the inquiry from Social Security Application, It means that verification was successful and your SSN will be approved. If you see a clock which indicates Case Under Review against the SSA inquiry, then it means that there was a problem during verification of your Social Security Application with DHS. In such a scenario, the local SSA office where the SSN application was submitted needs to forward additional documents to DHS. Whenever this happens, the SSN may get delayed or rejected as SSA office only waits for 4 weeks for clearance from DHS before rejecting the application. In case you do not see the Case being approved on SAVE even after 2 weeks of submission of the SSN application, you can call the SAVE office for manual verification of the same. You will need the SAVE Case Verification number pertaining to your SSN case for manual verification. This can be obtained by clicking on View Case button on the form above. The DHS officer will ask some basic details on the submitted documents to verify the applicant and will clear the application on SAVE, post which your SSN application will be approved.

SAVE Office Contact Details :  +1 888-897-7781 , then Select Language : English/Spanish--> Provide Case Verification number or select I don't know or Dial * --> Dial (1) or Say Contest --> DHS or Dial 1--> Speak to a Representative

Speak to DHS officer and provide SAVE Case Verification number and any other details as requested. Mention that you are calling as your SSN application is not approved and request them to clear your case. Once your case is approved on SAVE, you will receive your SSN via mail in approximately 2 weeks.

Note : SAVE Office number is the same number as I-9 verification number for Employees. Please check the link https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/about-form-i-9/e-verify-and-form-i-9 for the latest number.

Hope this article helped. Please leave your comments if this post helped you and want to see more such posts.

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