An H-1B visa holder shared the lengthy interview that took place at the Hyderabad Consulate in India, revealing how minutely visa officers are now going through H-1B visa applications and how they are asking technical questions about the job, specific projects etc. The interview continued for 30 minutes with two different interviewers, and they grilled the person, asking many questions about the company, about colleagues, about clients, education background. The person posted the entire experience on an NRI group and said the visa got approved almost a month after the interview, and the status on the site was shown as 'refused' throughout the month.
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Questions asked for H-1B visa as shared by the visa holder
- Explain your role
- Do you work for a client?
- What is your pay?
- How much did you pay your employer for the H-1B?
- What is the name of the project and how long has it been going?
- How soon do you expect to finish the project?
- When did you travel to India?
The visa holder was then put in administrative processing and was sent to another visa officer who asked more or less the same questions but in detail. For example, the second visa officer asked if she could find the project the visa holder was working on on the company website or LinkedIn. The visa holder was informed that it was not yet public and it wouldn't be available on the Internet.
Then the visa holder was asked about the team, the role of the team members, their names, and whether there is an office where they have to go every day. The person was also asked whether the India trip was a vacation or whether it was work from home. "How is the project going without you?" the visa officer asked when the person informed that it was a holiday,
The US administration has announced a major crackdown on H-1B visa program and even the Optional Practical Training (OPT) which works as a gateway to the H-1B. F-1 students are allowed to work as OPT and often these foreign students are hired by the same company on H-1B. But there are allegations of massive abuse of the system where companies ask for money from H-1B visa holders; where consultancies hire H-1Bs for client projects and then illegally bench these H-1Bs, rendering them without any salary for months.
