When you are attending an L1 visa interview, you could use a few tips, which would help in preparing and acing it! A Consular Officer would take your interview, and will ensure that you have met all the requirements of an L-1 visa before he/she issues the permit. The interview can be attended 90 days prior to the actual employment date, stated on your I-797.
General Instructions:
- Arrive a little early, around 15 - 30 minutes before the stipulated time.
- There might be a chance of multiple queues, so check for the right one!
- As long as your case is genuine, you have nothing to worry about.
- Keep all the documents in proper order and go through them thoroughly.
- Participate in the mock interviews conducted by your company.
- The Consulate might interpret blanket L with the actual employer’s name as given on the I-129S. The subsidiary or affiliate employer’s name is not mentioned in I-129S.
- Get to know your job profile beforehand, and also about the work pattern of the US office.
- It really doesn’t matter whether it is a service based company or product based company.
Behavior:
- Be confident
- Relax!
- Maintain a professional body language
- Talk slowly and calmly
- Hold eye contact with the consular officer
- Speak into the microphone clearly
- Sit/stand straight, don’t lean on the slab
- Speak with an audible tone. Don’t scream
- You can ask the consular officer to repeat the question if they are not audible.
- Don’t over explain the answer. Be to-the-point
- Greet the officer at the beginning of your interview.
- Dress according to comfort but dress up neatly!
While answering the Questions:
- Don’t try too many technical terms to impress the visa officer.
- Prepare well on your subject
- Your answers are more important than how you look
- Speak the truth only.
- Think before you answer (but try not to stammer or pause very long!).
- Prove your mental ability in understanding a question and answering it.
- There is no need to give unnecessary answers. Keep it precise.
- If you do not understand a question, ask the officer to rephrase the question.
- Listening skills will be quite handy in these interviews
- Justify your answers, if there is a need to explain the answer; then explain it precisely!
