Success Immgrant Visa Consular Process EB2 with PD Feb 14 2008
Case Completed Dec 30 2011
Got Interview Letter on Jan 26 2012: Interview scheduled for Mar 29 2012 @ 7:30 am in Mumbai Bandra Kurla Complex Called up Lilavati Hospital from US took appointment for Mar 20th 9:30 am (all appointments are for 9:30 am).
Reached Mumbai on Mar 19th, went for Medical on Mar 20th, had to take 2 vaccines, Chest x-ray, blood test, eye test, doctor asked for any prior treatments that's it. completed the process by 1:30 pm. We were told to collect the report the next day by 1:00 pm.
Mar 21st went to collect the medical report and reached the hosp by 1:00 pm, the report was not ready had to wait for another hour for the report to be ready.
Mar 22nd visited VFS center @ Mahalakshmi to submit the documents and pay the courier fees. The agent mentioned that we are late and they can no longer accept our application as we had to submit the docs at least 8 business days prior to interview.Went back home and called the VFS customer service and informed the agent about the requirement mentioned in website that the docs needs to be submitted 4 business days prior to interview and the agent @ Mahalakshmi required 8 business days, the customer service agent said that 4 business days is correct and asked us to visit the VFS center next day to submit the docs again and if refused then send an email to the VFS helpline and asked us to pay the fees @ the consulate on the date of interview, but when we went to the VFS center the next day they accepted the document without any questions ( when asked why the same was rejected the day before they mentioned that they were not aware of the process).
Mar 29th reached US Consulate @ Bandra Kurla Complex @ 7:00 am. There is a separate queue for Immigrant Visa. @ 7:15 we were allowed to go inside, we were given token number and Reached the Immigrant Visa section where we waited for our token number to be called. after about an hour our number was called the agent checked all the documents and gave us back the originals and other documents we had submitted to NVC. The agent asked us 1) to check the address mentioned in DS 230, 2) asked for Sponsor in US, then took our finger prints and asked us to wait. After about another hour our token number was called again and this time the consular officer checked our file told us to raise our right hand and take oath.
CO: who is sponsoring you?
Primary Applicant (PA): mentioned the Name of the company
CO: how long are you working for the company?
PA: past 5 1/2 years
CO: Do you have valid Employment Offer letter?
PA: Submitted the Original Employment Offer Letter.
CO: what are your Job duties?
PA: mentioned the job duties to CO.
CO: Checked the Letter and told us that there are no Job duties mentioned in the offer letter.( In offer letter its mentioned that the job duties are same as in Perm application)
PA: Submitted the copy of the approved Perm Application with the job duties mentioned.( The CO looked at the application and mentioned that this should have been in the offer letter).
CO: did you come to India for Interview?
PA: yes and will go back on April 15th.
CO: When did you go to US and on what visa? ( Since the passport had only H4 visa stamped in 2006)
PA: Apr 2006 on H4 and then applied for Job and changed status to H1
CO: When did you start work? Do you have valid H1 Petition?
PA: mentioned the start date for work and Submitted all the Valid H1 Petitions to CO including the H1B extensions.
CO to spouse: When did you go to US and on what Visa?
spouse: Oct 2004 and on H1b Visa.
CO: What company were you working for?
spouse: mentioned the name of the company I was working for.
CO: why did you not apply for green card?
spouse: My company do not process green card?
CO: What visa are you in currently?
spouse: H4 and submitted the valid H4 petition as the passport had the old H1b Visa stamped.
CO to PA: Sign the document which mentions that you will not work for any other company once you reach US other than your sponsoring company.
PA: Signed the document.
CO took our finger prints again.
CO retained our passports and said that's it
we said thank you and left the counter.
The whole process took about 3 hrs and by 10:30 we were out. We were expecting the passports the same day so went to the VFS center @ Mahalakshmi by 5pm and found that the passports are not ready. Finally after loong wait we got our passports with the stamped visa and the Yellow packets on Apr 11th that's 9 business days after interview.
On Apr 15th reached US LAX airport. we were asked to wait in Immigrant Visa queue. The CO asked for the sponsor name. Then she asked if the address in US is correct, we mentioned that there is a change in the address and she noted the same on the biographic page on the yellow envelope. Then asked us to wait for the Officer to call us.
The next officer took our packets and passports and then asked us to sign a form and also took finger print on the same form. After that we were told to wait. The officer checked the contents of the envelope and then asked us to sign the address change form and informed that our green card will be mailed to new address in few weeks.
The experience was good but very tensed till we got our passports stamped.
