Visa applications in India
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Any foreign national wishing to enter the United States (other than a lawful permanent resident) must present a valid nonimmigrant visa at a port of entry. In order to obtain a visa, a foreign national must apply at a U.S. consular post overseas. While appearing superficially simple, the visa issuance process is highly complex and frequently misunderstood.Nonimmigrant visa applicants must prepare themselves carefully before making an application. The "trust factor" in India has taken some severe hits recently. The Business Executive Program was supposed to be the model for safe an legitimate visa applications. Recently, five major companies were suspended from it for fraudulent activities. This caused a ripple effect that has resulted in all business visa applications being placed in doubt.
It is absolutely vital that a visa applicant be able to articulate the purpose of his or her trip to the United States clearly. If the individual is an applicant for an H1B or L visa, then they must be able to tell the visa officer everything about their proposed job and its duties. Keep in mind that you will have about thirty second in which to convince the visa officer that you know everything about your proposed job. You must speak forcefully and directly. Do not try to conceal anything or evade issues. Be direct and honest. Do not tell them that you are working for Microsoft or Cisco if in fact you are working for a staffing company that has placed you with one of those companies. Tell them that you work for X company (the staffing company) and have been assigned to work on a project at Y company.
While it is not required that you produce a copy of your petition, it often helps if you have one with you at the interview. If you bring a copy, tab the most relevant portions, such as the contracts, the employer letter, the end client letter, and your diploma. Often, if your employer failed to submit a PIMS copy to the USCIS with the original petition, the visa officer can still complete the interview and then issue the visa after the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) is able to get the original file from the USCIS and enter it into PIMS. They will not issue a visa until they have seen the PIMS copy. Bringing photos of your office and work area is always a good idea.
Often, visa applicants encounter "administrative processing" delays. They happen for a wide variety of reasons, such as:
- The applicant's name turned up on a watch list as someone who has a criminal record or may be associated with a terrorist organization. Applicants with common names can expect this to happen to them more often than applicants with less common names.
- The visa officer is concerned that the company's operation in India may not be what is claimed. In that case, an investigator from the consulate will be sent to physically verify the information.
- The applicant may be involved with technology that appears on the State Department's Technology Alert List (TAL). If so, then a special security advisory opinion will be requested.
- The applicant may be a former member of his or her country's military. Again, a special security advisory opinion will be requested.
- The information in the petition conflicts with the information articulated by the applicant during the interview or with documents submitted subsequent to the interview, casting doubt on the validity of the petition. The most common instance of this is where the petition shows one job site, but the applicant says that he or she is working at another. In these situations, the petition is generally returned to the USCIS for readjudication.
If an application is denied, an applicant may make a second application and have it handled by a different officer who will not have access to the notes from the first application. If that application is denied, however, for all subsequent applications, the officers handling them will have access to the notes of all previous applications.
Applicants need to be familiar with local visa application procedures and follow them to the letter. Make sure that you check the requirements found on each post's web site: To discuss your visa application experience, or read what others have to say on this subject, please click here to be taken to the Immigration Information Discussion Forum.
