Want US visa? Convince officer you’ll come back to India

If you are going for an interview to get your passport stamped with a US visa, ensure that you succeed in convincing the officer that you will return to India.

This was one of the many suggestions that US consul officials—Nicholas Manring, consular section chief, and Michael Cathey, visa chief—had for visa applicants. They were speaking at an interaction session on US visa guidance on Wednesday. Manring said it was important for the interviewer to see how tempted the candidate was to stay back in the US.

One consular officer conducts about a 100 interviews a day and spends about three-four minutes with each applicant. Besides legal and technical questions for work visas, the officer looks forward to how the applicant sounds like, knows why he was selected, what he is going to be doing in the US, where he will fit in and how long he will be staying there.

Also, the interviewee should be able to tell how many people in his company do the same work as him, why he stands apart and is being chosen for the US assignment.

Manring said sometimes, the candidates’ application form says they will be going for two months but when they come for interview, they say the duration of their stay in the US has been changed to nine months. He said many candidates fail to give a convincing reply as to what brought about the change.

The visa chief spoke about the recent change where people can apply online for appointment for visa interview and choose any centre in the country. Earlier, a candidate in Bangalore had to go to Chennai for interview. Manring said the change had been brought about to ensure the convenience of the applicants.

‘Intimate date well in advance’ People who attended the interactive session presented their suggestions. One person said people aged above 70 years should be exempted from appearing for the visa interview in person.

Currently, the exemption is valid for those who are more than 80 years old. Another suggestion was that the interview date should be released two months in advance, against the current duration of two weeks. One person suggested that Bangalore should get at least a US consulate if a visa processing centre cannot be opened here.

On the occasion, Manring also announced that in the coming months, the applications for the blanket L visas (for intra-company transfer) would be handed in Chennai. This type of visa has proved to be problematic. Manring said the US consul was centralising the process of issuing the visa to ensure that same standards are used for all the applicants.

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