Submit H-1B Visa Documents and Fees to American Express and Schedule your Embassy/Consulate Interview

 

This post is a part of series of posts that makes up “The Complete Process Trail for H-1B Work Visa”.

Once you have submitted online your Nonimmigrant Visa Application DS-160, you have to submit following documents and fees to:

American Express
Ground Floor, Shaheen Complex
Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road
PABX 92-21 3263 0260-80
amextravelkarachi@aeg.com.pk
Web: http://www.aegusvisa.com.pk/

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List of Documents to submit:

1. Confirmation page of DS-160
2. Original Passport valid for at least 6 months at the time of submission along with an enlarged (A4 size) copy of the first two pages of current and old passport. Original passport would be returned after due verification
3. Copies of previous passports first 2/4 pages, covering 15 years of travel
4. Travel history form for last 10 years. You will get a paper document from American Express on which you can fill your Travel history.
5. One photograph; having size of 2X2 inches preferably color photograph taken against a white or off-white background, printed without borders on non glossy paper. Computer Scanned photographs are not acceptable and photograph cannot be modified in any way, re-touched, penciled or altered by computer software Photograph should have been taken within last 6 months.
6. I-797, I-29
7. HEC Form – You will get this document from American Express. Fill it, sign it and attach it with the rest of the documents
8. Original SSC (Metric) Certificate
9. Original HSSC (Inter) Certificate
10. Original Bachelor’s/Master’s/PhD’s Degree/Certificate
11. Original SSC (Matric) Marks Sheet
12. Original HSSC (Inter) Marks Sheet
13. Original Bachelor’s/Master’s/PhD’s Transcript
14. Submit H-1B Visa Fee - US$190
1. Do not forget to get the receipt
15. Once you submit all these to American Express
1. Take receipt against submitted visa application
2. Take an interview appointment date. (Interview date will be noted on the Visa Fee Receipt).

Receiving and Accepting the Offer from H-1B Work Visa Sponsor

 

This post is a part of series of posts that makes up “The Complete Process Trail for H-1B Work Visa”.

Once you clear the technical interview and are shortlisted by the H-1B Work Visa Sponsor, your second and last interview will be scheduled with the HR/Management. This interview serves a mean to interact with the management/HR of the company and sort of an introductory knowledge session about what company is all about, their vision, mission , future roadmaps etc.. It is very rare that a candidate who qualifies the technical interview, got rejected because of the evaluation results from his management/HR interview.

Next, the Sponsor will extend an offer to you verbally, which details your role, job description, salary, benefits, etc.. If you agree or after final negotiations, they will send you an Official Offer Letter on company’s letter head, which will be a proof of employment for you throughout your H-1B Work Visa processing.

Make sue you discuss and have a clear understanding on all of the following before accepting the offer:

1. Contract Type – Consultant or Employment
2. Sponsor’s % and your % in case of Consultant Contract OR per month Salary in case of Employment Contract
3. General idea of rates/salaries in prevailing market
4. General idea of Tax Deductions & your Take Home Salary

H-1B Work Visa Sponsors and their Selection Process / Criteria

 

This post is First of a series of posts that makes up “The Complete Process Trail for H-1B Work Visa”.

How to find H-1B Work Visa Sponsors?

So how you will find an H-1B Sponsor who sponsor candidates with similar expertise and skill sets as yours? There are different ways in which H-1B Sponsors float sponsorship opportunities in the market.

1. Join Local Office for some duration  – Some sponsors publish their local job vacancies with H-1B sponsorship as an “added” advantage. So once you are selected, you will have to join their local office for a year or more (depending upon your specific case) and thereafter they’ll process your H-1B. Also, some sponsors tie the processing of H-1B sponsorship with your performance in their local office, so it is not necessary that once you joined their local office, you are also selected for the sponsorship as well.
   
   So, in order to find such sponsors, refer to my post “Companies who Sponsor H-1B Work Visa for USA in Pakistan” and follow Job Opportunities from these companies on:
   
   Rozee.pk
   pak-jobs-IT
   Company’s own website
   
2. Trusted References Only – Some sponsors do not float their ads directly in the local market, they work through their existing established local trusted references. So, in this case, you have to leverage upon the professional and social circle you are in. In my opinion, I could be wrong, professional networks like LinkedIn.com or Rozee.pk might help in this case. Because your complete professional profile is visible to your contacts and they can see if you are a good fit for the opportunity or not.

Selection and Interview Process

In first case above, the selection process is pretty much the same as with any other selection process for local Job Opportunities. Therefore, I’ll now discuss the second case in detail below.

If an H-1B sponsor is interested in your profile, they will schedule your technical interview. The interview duration will be 30 to 60 minutes in which you will be evaluated in following technical and non-technical areas:

1. Technology (Java/.Net/C++/etc)
1. Hashing
2. Serialization
3. Collections
4. Multi Threading / Concurrent Programming
5. Network Programming
6. JDBC
7. Exception Handling
8. etc.
2. OOP
3. Frameworks
1. IoC (Spring, etc.)
2. MVC Frameworks (Spring WebMVC, Struts 1/2, etc.)
3. ORM Frameworks (n/Hibernate, etc)
4. Web Services (REST, SOAP)
4. Databases
1. SQL
1. Joins
2. Sub Queries
3. Views
4. Stored Procedures / Functions
5. Triggers
6. Query Performance & Optimization
2. Transactions & Locking
3. Big Data Handling concepts like Sharding and Partitioning
4. High Availability concepts like Clustering, Replication, etc..
5. Problem Solving – Scenario based
6. Communication
1. Command over English Language
2. Clarity of Thoughts
3. Confidence
4. Attitude
5. Mental Presence and Attentiveness
6. Punctuality

Besides above, you can be asked about any thing that you have written in your resume/cv.

As far as interview scheduling is concern, you can either receive an email or a phone call confirming your interview time and date. They will also let you know how your interview will be taken i.e. it could be over:

1. Skype
2. Your landline or Mobile phone
3. Goto Meeting Session
4. etc.

The interview could be Audio only (most probably) or both Audio and Video. Some important tips for the interview are as follows:

1. Make sure you are online/ready 5 minutes before your scheduled time. Save yourself from the embarrassment of last minute hiccups.
2. Make sure you are in a safe and sound place, where you can attend your interview peacefully with out kind of interruptions.
3. If you are giving interview on Mobile Phone, make sure it is fully charged.
4. If you are giving interview on Skype or Goto Meeting or any online audio/video service, make sure your Mic/Speakers/WebCam/etc. are all working correctly. Better make test calls to make sure every thing is fine.
5. Speak naturally with a medium pace (not too fast, not too slow) and slightly louder than normal voice.
6. Avoid short answers and very long explanations. Be specific with enough details to satisfy the interviewer.
7. Be prepared for the time when they ask you “if you any questions for us?”, keep a couple or more questions handy for the that time.

You’ll probably be notified within a week about the result of your interview and whether you are shortlisted or not. You will either receive an email (most probably) or a phone call.

In my next post, I will discuss what will happen once you pass the scheduled interview and make it to the shortlisted candidate?