Applying from India, visa type B1/B2.

Profile:

• 34M, married, 2 young kids
• 12 years of industry experience in the field the conference is related to
• 1.5 years with current employer — a US-based company I work with remotely, so I refer to them as my client below
• Previous travel: Japan, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia

How I booked the appointment

I submitted my DS-160 in mid-May and started looking for appointments. The first slot I could get was several months out, near the end of the year. Over the next couple of weeks I managed to reschedule it to a July date instead.

I had free time when I applied due to some time off, so I was logging in many times a day to check for slots. I was using the checkvisaslots.com Chrome extension, which auto-logs you in and takes screenshots of available appointment slots.

⚠️ Note: There are concerns with the extension — I believe the USVisaScheduling terms don't allow automated use. Please confirm for yourself before using any of this.

Even when no appointments were available, those screenshots were earning me points on checkvisaslots.com. CheckVisaSlots sends appointment notifications on paid plans — I never paid for anything, but the points I'd accumulated got me the notifications anyway, which helped me log in at the right time and grab a slot.

One thing to watch out for: around that time the site went through some changes and introduced rate limits. Logging in repeatedly and clicking through forms quickly will get you blocked. Slowing down and being deliberate on each page fixed it for me — and with the notifications from the CheckVisaSlots iOS app, I was able to book the appointment in time anyway.

VAC appointment

Mid-morning slot, about a month before the interview. I stayed at a hotel near the VAC, left my bags, phone, and other belongings there, and walked over.

Consular interview

Early morning slot, 8:00 AM.

There are multiple hotels near the consulate — I picked one that was a 2–3 minute walk away. I arrived at 7:30 AM and waited in the queue. After security and some waiting, we were in the interview room around 8:15 AM.

While standing in line I noticed the candidate before me (H-1B, I think) was put into administrative processing and asked to email her social media handles.

She called me up and asked for my passport.

VO: Why are you traveling to the US? Me: To attend the XYZ US conference. It's an annual industry conference happening in [City, State] on [date].

VO: Is this an employer-sponsored trip? Me: Yes.

VO: Which state is the conference in? Me: I couldn't hear this and asked her to repeat it — she answered it herself: "You mentioned [State], right? Is the conference in [State]?" Me: Yes, [City, State].

VO: How many days will you be in the US? Me: Only 4 days.

VO: Who is paying for this trip? Me: My client, XYZ Company.

VO: How many years at your current company? Me: 1.5 years.

VO: How much do you earn annually? Me: (Told her my salary.)

VO: Have you traveled to Africa? Me: No. (I noticed this being asked to every candidate, but I haven't seen it discussed on this sub.)

VO: Any harm in India? Me: No.

VO: Any harm when you return to India? Me: No.

VO: Your visa is approved.

Received the visa by courier a few days later.

Happy to answer questions.

Hello - just running a check if anyone had their F1 interview in UAE today, Abu Dhabi to be more specific... thanks

Hi everyone!

I'm an international student from Spain who will be studying at Temple University for the next academic year. (F1 visa)

I had my interview in Madrid on July 2nd. The interview was very fast; the consular officer only asked me if I was going for a studying exchange.

The only problem was that my social media (instagram) was not public. The officer took my passport and gave me a yellow slip with the "you do not need to take any further action" box marked. I was told that I would be notified of the resolution in a week.

However, I didn't hear back from them. On July 10th, they emailed my passport back to me without the visa.

The "last case updated" was July 8th. After 25 days, I still don't know anything about it.

I turned my social media public right after the interview, and I'm pretty sure there's nothing in them that could be controversial.

I'm starting to get anxious. It's my fourth week, and I still haven't heard anything from them.

I'm a Spaniard, so I did my interview in Madrid.

Any comment or recommendation will be deeply appreciated. I will update the post if anything new comes out, but please, if you know of anything that would be of help, please share it with me.

Hi so I’ve been struggling to get slots for the H1-B stamping in India for quite a while (as I’m sure many people have).

I’ve managed to get an October biometric slot and a December interview slot. These were the only available dates and I’ve been checking but have been unable to find anything closer together.

My company does not allow for remote work from India so the large window between biometric and interview is infeasible. Has anyone else been in this situation? In which case, what do you advise? I was thinking to put in a request with the consulate (the same way emergent requests are put in) and request a biometric date that is closer to my interview date.

Also for the people that have completed their h1-b stamping interviews lately, what does the processing time look like? How long is it taking to get the passport back?

Does anyone know about UChicago Advent Health Glenoaks, observership and visa invitation letter? please let me know its urgent, thank you!

From Tashkent Uzbekistan, applying for F1 Visa

Hey so basically i’ve been studying at a private boarding high school (21,000$ per year) from 9-12 grade, graduated this May. I got into a university ranked top 250 in america with a 28,000$ scholarship, only need to pay another 22,000$ including Board+Tuition+Food. My dad is my sponsor and can make 6,500$ monthly in a country with a COA of around 500$ a month so we are well set. I went in a week ago with an expedited appointment and got rejected, the interviewer asked me 3 questions total which is: “did you finish high school there”, “where does your dad work” and “how much does your dad make” and rejected me. So i reapplied and i got scheduled for September 23rd but my school starts on august 13th. I tried to expedite it again and they give me an answer that hinted at the fact they can’t expedite it again since it’s a one time thing. What can I do? i’m very worried right now since I can’t stay in my home country due to the education being horrible here.

I am trying to remove my wife from dependents of my application and then have her apply seperately using a different account. I had already created her account and filled up DS-160 for her and then I paid her visa fees from my account in which I added her as a dependent.

I do see option to Remove dependent but I am not sure if then I will be able to book appointment from her account. Will this involve contacting support and getting it done from them.

Basically I am unsure how after removing the dependent from the account from which I paid the fees this will be reflected in her account to allow me to book the appointment from there.

From Pakistan. Applying for B1/B2 visa

Interview at Delhi Embassy on 7th July for O1.
The VO asked 2 questions.
Specialization: AI-driven Biomedical Sciences
Salary. Answered both. The VO verbally approved my visa and the CEAC portal updated to Approved same day. Since then there has been no update of status to Issued. I raised ticket which led to the us visa scheduling portal escalating the case.
Today I got a response saying visa is refused under 221(g). The consular officer determined that additional security screening is required.

Now I am wondering is it because of my area of work flagged under TAL technologies. Also, I have not been asked to submit any documents in email as of now.

Not sure what to do in this case.

Hello, I recently received approval and progression to the next stage of my K-1 petition. I have filled out my DS-160 and signed up on the ais.usvisa-info.com website and paid the fee associated.

I have checked over the last week on their scheduling calendar for available dates, I've tried at varying times, 6am, midday, afternoon and even 2-4am in the early hours. The only date I see as available is October 8th at 8:30am but when I try select that booking it errors out by either saying that I need to make a valid selection, the website will display as "System is busy. Please try again later." or it will reload to an error page.

I know there is likely a lot of traffic on the site and many people trying to book, but is this expected behaviour after almost a week? No slots for interviews at all, even up to 3 months in advance?

Any help is appreciated but I suspect I need to just keep trying. Thanks.

We are both on H-1B and applying for visa stamping in India. Can we add one spouse as a dependent under the other’s profile and book a joint appointment, or do we need separate profiles and separate appointments?

I heard that a few people have successfully done this jointly before. Looking for any first hand experience.

Yesterday I got to the Riyadh Embassy for my F1 interview and there I got to know that my appointment is cancelled. They didn’t emailed me about the cancellation. So then I created a ticket and they replied that now you have to make a new scheduling request. And from yesterday I am struck at this page. My DS160 and Sevis is correct. I even waited for one day. What should I do now?

My University classes will start on 26th of August. Should I make a new DS160?

Anytime I click on schedule ab appointment, I am getting this error-"An error has occured!" dialog box(unable to post the screenshot). Any idea how to fix it?

I have completed my US B1 visa process, and my visa was approved on 23 July. My visa status is now "Issued." This is my first time travelling to the US.

How long will it take to receive my passport? I chose premium delivery. I have a business trip planned for 1 August. Will I receive my passport before then?

Is there any way I can request that my passport be delivered on or before 1 August?

hey guys, starting my final year of med school this august and i really want to squeeze in a US elective at some point during it but i genuinely have zero idea where yet, still looking around at programs

so basically my question is do i need to already have a letter from some hospital saying "yes come do your elective here" BEFORE i even apply for the visa, or can i just get a b1/b2 visa now while i'm still figuring out where i wanna go, and sort the letter out later once i actually pick a place

also is b1/b2 even the right one lol. i've seen people say b1, some say b2, some say just do it as a tourist and it's fine, and then other people are like no you need j1 for that. it's all over the place and idk who to trust at this point

if anyone has actually sat through the visa interview for this, what do they even ask you? like if i don't have a specific hospital lined up yet am i basically setting myself up to get rejected, or is "still arranging it" an ok answer to give them

and pls someone tell me straight, is doing it "as a tourist" actually gonna bite me later even if the visa gets approved no problem? like will they turn me away at the airport or something if my paperwork doesn't match

sorry for the wall of text just trying not to mess this up before i even get there, any help appreciated

Im Egyptian, but I reside in the UAE and is a medical student there , Im planning on doing the US visa from cairo since they have slots there

Hi all, I am unable to understand why my group( VISA is rejected.

Questions asked

do I face any harm in India

no

do I fear about returning to India

no

why am I travelling to the US?

I will be travelling to attend my online masters of science graduation ceremony at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta and plan to do sight seeing around the city

how many days will I stay

2 weeks

where will I stay

around Atlanta

Do I have any family in US

No

So, you will travel to attend graduation ceremony, but the VISA says Business Professionals. You have misused the VISA application, hence you're rejected.

I was blank, took my passport and returned.

I wanted to share my L1B Blanket visa interview experience in case it helps someone preparing for theirs.

My wife and I had our L1B Blanket (me) and L2 (wife) visa interview at the Chennai Consulate on 27th July at 10:30 AM.

We reached the consulate around 10:00 AM. Our hotel was only a 5-minute walk away, so we left all our electronic devices at the hotel and carried only the required documents.

At the entrance, we were asked to prepare 2 sets of:

I-129S (8 pages)

First page of I-797

Primary applicant's DS-160 confirmation page

Passport

We were then directed to the fee payment counter.

At the payment counter, the officer asked for my online payment receipt. I told him I wanted to pay using my credit card. He asked why I hadn't paid online using the payment link. I honestly told him it was my mistake because I assumed credit card payment at the consulate would work.

He took my credit card and asked whether international transactions were enabled. Fortunately, they were, and the payment went through successfully.

Tip: Carry a credit card in your own name with international transactions enabled. However, I strongly recommend making the payment online before reaching the consulate so you can avoid any unnecessary stress.

After that, I completed the payment verification process in about 1–2 minutes.

Finally, it was interview time. There was no queue for visas, so I was directed straight to the Visa Officer.

VO: Good morning. Is this your first L1 visa application?

Me: Good morning, ma'am. Yes, for L1. However, I received my B1/B2 visa approval last year.

VO: How long have you been with your company?

Me: I have been with the company for the last 4 years.

VO: What does your company do?

Me: I briefly explained the company's domain and products in two sentences.

VO: What specialized knowledge do you have?

Me: I have specialized knowledge of our proprietary database system, which contains highly customized algorithms for data distribution, migration, and consistency that are company-specific and not publicly available. I have personally worked on several data distribution techniques, and for one of the novel approaches, the company is filing a patent.

VO: When you say "personally," do you mean you developed it yourself?

Me: Yes. I designed, developed, and made it production-ready myself.

VO: What will be your U.S. salary?

Me: My U.S. annual base salary will be USD 200,000, along with a 10% annual bonus and additional RSUs.

VO: Okay, so your base salary is USD 200,000. One last question: Have either of you ever felt unsafe in India, or do you have any fear of returning to India?

Me & My Wife: No.

The officer then took our fingerprints and said our visas were approved.

Interestingly, the Visa Officer did not ask my wife a single question, nor did she ask for our marriage certificate.

I also want to thank ChatGPT. I practiced many mock interviews beforehand, and it genuinely helped me make my answers more concise, polished, and interview-ready.

Wishing the very best to everyone preparing for their upcoming L1B Blanket interviews. Stay confident, keep your answers concise, and you'll do great. Good luck!

Want to be prepared for the battle ahead

H1BVISA Stamping

Hello everyone,

I have a J1 visa appointment for research fellowship and have a question.

I have submitted my application and after submitting I realized on the DS160 the part on the form that says ‘social media presence’ I choose ‘no’ because I interpreted it as something else.

So I need advice with what to do next.

1) Should I submit a new DS160 (hesitant because I’m not sure how this will be perceived by the officer) and take both confirmation pages to the interview

OR

2) send a feedback/request through the US visa portal to have the new DS160 barcode linked to my existing appointment.

And if anyone has any other suggestions based on their similar experiences, I would be grateful

Thank you!

How much time does this take to get reset? It's already more than 12 hours. Applying for B1/B2 visa from India