Real interviews: 9 community reports

Only two questions touched the case itself - nearly the whole interview went to the medical exam and English.

• What makes you extraordinary?

• How many years have you been in this profession?

• What are you going to do about your health problems?

  No chronic conditions; the same question came three times in a row and the answer did not change.

• How will you support yourself with weak English?

  I am learning the language and will continue; I have funds for the transition period and can show documents.

• - The officer repeated the same health question three times, stepping away to consult a colleague between repeats.
• - The medical centre did not take the documents - results went to the consulate directly.

Takeaway: A repeated question is not a sign of failure: the officer is testing whether your answer holds. Stick to one formulation.

Consulate guide: Yerevan

They asked about achievements and profession, left the passport in hand, and administrative processing only started after an email exchange.

• Tell me about your achievements.

• What is your profession?

• - On the way out they handed a sheet with no administrative-processing box ticked - only a request to send the CV and evidence of achievements electronically.
• - The email sent the same day went unanswered: the consulate sent its own request two weeks later, and the clock started from the reply to that.
• - The CEAC status flipped to Refused dated the interview day - that is a normal interim entry, not a denial.

Takeaway: Wait for the consulate’s own request and answer that one: a proactive email may simply not be read.

Consulate guide: Yerevan

A visa-bulletin jump moved the interview a year earlier than planned - and the whole preparation, Schengen visa and medical exam included, had to be assembled in two months.

• Tell me about your area of research.

• What academic degrees do you hold and when did you receive them?

• What will you be doing in the US?

• - The invitation came two months before the date: the priority date became current earlier than expected.
• - The Schengen visa was the bottleneck in summer - no slots, so an expedited route through another country was used.

Takeaway: Plan the logistics - a visa to the consulate country, the medical exam, tickets for the family - before your date goes current.

Consulate guide: Warsaw

A three-year path: O-1 through an intermediary service, then EB-1A largely self-driven - with the conclusion that 90% of the result is the applicant’s own work.

• What exactly do you do?

• Who is your petitioner and how are you connected?

• What will you be doing in the US?

• - The author’s take on intermediaries: the best a lawyer does is not make things worse; the substance of the case is assembled by the applicant anyway.
• - Preparing for the O-1 took about three years from when the author first looked at the visa.

Takeaway: A case is built over years and by your own hand: you can delegate the paperwork, not the substance.

The whole interview came down to one question: why the applicant has no job offer. A citation to the regulation and a copy of the I-140 settled it.

• Why do you not have a job offer?

  EB-1A does not require an offer: the job-offer requirement applies to EB-1B (outstanding professor or researcher), not to the extraordinary-ability category.

• - The officer stepped away to check and came back; the applicant showed page one of the I-140 with the extraordinary-ability box marked.
• - There were no questions about the petition criteria at all - only about the missing offer.

Takeaway: Carry a copy of the I-140 and know the rule: 8 CFR 204.5 explicitly separates the EB-1A and EB-1B requirements.

A family interview: general questions to everyone first, then the spouse and children were moved aside and the principal applicant was questioned in detail.

• What does your company do?

  Import and export of goods, 25-27 staff.

• What is your role in the company?

  I advise, sign contracts and travel to meetings.

• Since what year has the company existed?

• What will you do in the US?

• Whom and how many people will you hire?

• Which companies do you work with and what do they ship?

• Do you know anyone at the media outlets that interviewed you?

• You know that applicants for this visa hold international-level awards? Do you have any?

• - The applicant started answering in English despite choosing Russian; a Russian-speaking officer was called only after a direct "I do not understand the question".
• - The question about award level sounded like pressure rather than a request for information.

Takeaway: If you pick a language, stay in it. Switching to English out of politeness cost this applicant the middle of the interview.

A ticketed queue, an hour and a half of waiting, the family seated aside - and three substantive questions on the case.

• Tell me about your research area: where is the national and international recognition?

• What academic degrees do you hold and in which years?

• What are your plans in the US? Where will you work, do you know specific scientists and their departments?

  Named the researchers, their departments and their interest in the applicant’s work, with supporting correspondence.

• - The education diploma was not requested - only the documents from the consulate’s official list.
• - With a child they were moved to the front of the queue.

Takeaway: Specifics about future colleagues in the US beat general talk about plans - names, departments, correspondence.

Consulate guide: Warsaw

The most interrogative of the reports: the officer deliberately hunted for mismatches between the diploma, the job titles and the claimed field of talent.

• How many years is your career in your field of talent?

• Why is your first degree in one field and your talent in another?

• At one company your role is called Customer Service - how does that relate to your field of talent?

• What did you do at the other company?

• Did you coordinate future employment with anyone in the US?

• Will your current company keep working with you after the move?

• What salary is planned in the US?

• How will you apply your experience in the US?

• You studied at a foreign university - was it a master’s or a PhD, and did you attend in person?

• How much money do you have for the move, in cash on your accounts?

• - A job title that does not match the field of talent is the main hook in this report: prepare the explanation in advance.

Takeaway: If your job title does not sound like your talent, explain the substance of the work rather than the title on paper.

Consulate guide: Warsaw

The invitation came a month after DQ against local expectations of 8-9 months; the whole interview took 15-20 minutes and ended in approval.

• What was the award for?

• In which journals are your articles published?

• Where did you work, and where before that?

• Do you have a job offer in the US?

• Where exactly are you going?

• - The officer had the case on screen and asked straight from it.
• - They asked for the diploma with translation and the CV, although the diploma was not on the official document list.
• - The spouse was the principal applicant; the other spouse was asked nothing at all.

Takeaway: Bring the diploma with translation and the CV even when they are not on the list: both were needed in this report.