My experience of applying for the US visa in Chennai

This travel was all about applying for a B1/B2 US visa.

I have a business trip coming for which I need to travel to the USA. Since I did not have a visa with me, I was asked to apply for the same.

Let me quickly go through some work that I did before traveling to Chennai. For starters, I started applying for a visa. First up, fill the DS-160 form for a B1/B2 visa. I filled the fields in this form which asked for personal details, family details, travel itinerary, work details and then questions related to activities in India/USA. Once the form was submitted, I received a confirmation page with a 10-letter bar code. This bar code is very important as it will be used by the visa officer during the interview to verify your details. I had my documents filled within 20 minutes.

Once I had the DS-160 confirmation code, then I proceeded to UStraveldocs.com and created an account. Here I made a payment for the visa interview and along with that booked my biometrics and visa interview slots. Remember that you need at least a days gap between the biometrics and interview dates. I got my interview date on 5th April 2019 and the biometrics on 4th April 2019.

Documents to prepare:
1. Valid passport with at least 6 months validity
2. Invitation letter
3. Covering letter
4. Payslips (3 months)
5. Bank statement (6months)
6. Any other related documents to the job or personal life like Marriage certificate will be useful.
I carried all the documents along with the DS-160 confirmation letter and the visa appointment letter in a folder (better be transparent). With all this, I was ready to travel to Chennai.

My flight to Chennai was on 3rd April 2019 from Bangalore. I arrived at Chennai airport at 6:15 PM and got my bag within 10 mins. I took a cab and went to my hotel Hyatt Regency. The reception desk people were very welcoming and they quickly checked-in my details and showed me the way to my room. One of the reasons for choosing this hotel is it's very close to the US Embassy.

I had my biometrics processing on 4th April 2019 scheduled at 12 PM. Since I was ready by 10:30 AM thought of going there early. Took the cab from the hotel and arrived at Visa Application Center (VAC) by 11 AM. The entrance to the VAC is from the back gate of the building, so if you are dropped off at the front gate of the building, don’t panic. Just walk to the rear side of the building and you will see a security person standing at a small gate. To my surprise, there was no queue and I was allowed to move inside at 11 AM itself.

THINGS TO CARRY TO VAC:
1. Passport
2. Visa appointment letter
3. DS-160 confirmation letter

As soon as I entered in, there is a photocopy shop where people are busy taking copies of documents (unnecessary). The shop owner also keeps your bags there if you are carrying one as we cannot carry it inside the VAC. I guess they charge around 10Rs for one bag, very nominal I would say. Well, I didn’t need anything from that place so I proceeded to the VAC.

Inside VAC, there will be a document verification queue. I had my documents ready so that was quick. Within a minute my document verification was completed. Then I proceeded to the next counter. There was a second queue here and to add to my confusion there were two separate queues. One was for the biometrics processing and the second for collecting passport! (got to know after talking to security). Since the biometrics queue was empty I was allowed to move inside the room without any wait.

Inside, a security person will check your pockets and check your phone if it is switched off (Yes, you can take your phone inside). Next counter they will check for data entered in appointment letter compared to the passport. One more counter and here they asked me for my full name and attached a sticker behind the passport. This contains the interview date, shipping option, and DS-160 confirmation number. Also, they will give me a token number which mentions the booth number. After this, there was another queue to visit the booth. Again the queue was empty and within a few seconds, I was in my booth. Here the lady inside the booth asked me for my passport. She asked me to mention my full name and date of birth to cross verify with the passport. She then asked me to remove my specs and stand 2 feet away from the booth to take my photograph. As the last step to get my fingerprints registered, she asked me to place my fingers (4 each from the left and right hand and then both thumbs together) and scanned them.

That was it!. The entire VAC process was done within 5 minutes and I was out of the building by 11:05 AM. I went back to my hotel and stayed inside for the entire day as the weather was hot and there is no way I get to roam around with this heat. I spent some time in the evening walking around and got to eat some savory snacks at Grand Sweets.

Next day (5th April 2019) I had my appointment at the US consulate for the visa interview at 11:45 AM. I started early at 10 AM thinking that I might get lucky like the previous day. I reached outside the Consulate office (next to Gemini fly-over) and saw a large number of people waiting there. They were allowing people to move inside based on the timeslot! I had an hour and a half to spend before making my move inside. I looked around and saw the people, there were all sorts of them, young, old, families, individuals, students, businessmen. At the same time, there were people walking out of Consulate mostly with sad faces though (rejected) and a few happy faces as well. One thing I didn’t like about the place is the auto drivers. They were not letting people move away until they accepted a ride and also they were playing with the emotions of people who got their visa rejected by making faces behind them.

So they called in for 11:45 AM time slot folks to join the queue (finally) and it was my turn to go inside. They won’t allow us to carry anything other than the folder (with documents) inside the building, so make sure if you are going there don’t carry phones or any other items.

Near the gate, they checked my passport for the sticker (attached at VAC) and let me move ahead. Before entering inside security asked me to keep my wallet, pen and office ID card to keep inside the folder. The folder then gets sent under scanner and I was waiting for my turn for security check. For my surprise the officer let me walk without checking me (felt happy). I collected my document and moved to the Consulate office.

Inside they verified my identity by scanning my fingers again. Then there was one big queue for the interview (nervous times). The queue, however, moved fast as there were around 10 officers interviewing. It was my turn and the security person asked me to go to booth 28. In front of me, there was already a lady having her interview and I could hear everything they speak. After a couple of minutes, the officer rejected her request and gave her Form 214 which explains the reason for rejection. Next, my turn!

I greeted the officer, she replied with a smile on her face and asked for my passport. She then asked me the following questions,
1. Why are you going to the US?
2. What is your salary per annum?
3. How many people will you be meeting there?
4. What do you do in your company?
5. How many people are working on this product?
6. How many days are you going for?
7. Are you meeting anyone else?
8. Your total experience in the company?

Then there was silence for a few seconds. Finally, she told me that my visa is approved and have a pleasant stay in the US. She also gave me a green form which is confirmation for visa approved. I thanked her for approving my visa and collected my documents and was out of Consulate within a couple of minutes.

A few observations:
- Wear your company ID card
- I did not wear formals as many people did there. In fact, I was the only person in casual attire.
- Be truthful and clear when you answer.
- If you didn’t hear a question, don’t fumble. You can ask the officer to repeat the question.
- Answer precisely to the question, do not drag the conversation.

I was happy to get an approval as most of the folks there had their applications rejected. I came out of the Consulate and moved towards a PCO box to make a phone call. My cab arrived in 15 mins and I went back to the hotel. Had a quick lunch and started my journey back to the airport and from there to Bangalore. The whole experience was simply amazing.

I got my passport delivered to my home in just 2 working days (I had opted for premium courier). Now that I have my visa, its time to plan for my US visit.

Thanks for reading about my experience. If you have any questions related to the visa process, ask away and I will try my best to reply :)