Indian AI Engineer Denied US Business Visa for Company Offsite

Indian AI engineer shares visa denial experience for company offsite in the US.

Getting a US visa for travel and business purposes has become extremely tricky as visa officers reject applications if they even have the slightest doubt that the applicant may not come back to their home country country; or start looking for a job in the US. An AI engineer shared his experience of B1 visa denial at the Delhi consulate on Reddit, as he gave his background that he works for a US-based startup from India. But his payroll and employment is through another company. The company's offsite is in October, for which he applied for a visa and got rejected. The Redditor shared how the conversation went. Officer: What's your job title? Redditor: AI Engineer. Officer: Where do you work? Redditor: I work for Company A. My employment in India is through Company B, which handles my payroll. Officer: Why do you need to go to the US? What do you do? Redditor: I'm an AI Engineer working on AI workflow automation software. This trip is for our engineering offsite. During the meeting, we'll discuss business priorities for the next quarter, and since I'm one of the early/core engineering team members, I'm required to participate in engineering planning and technical decisions. Officer: So it's your own business? Redditor: No, I'm an employee. Officer: How long have you been with the company? Redditor: Since September last year. Officer: Are you the only Indian hire? Redditor: Yes. Officer: And you're the only one traveling? Redditor: Yes. I'm the only employee traveling from India. We're a remote company with employees in other countries like Mexico and Canada, so team members from those locations will also be attending. After this conversation, the man was handed a 214(b) refusal slip, which means the applicant does not have enough ties to his home country, but the man said that he was never asked about his family members and he could have proved that he has his mother, wife and a property under his name in India. Redditors pointed out that since he works for a US company, it raises a red flag for visa officers, as he could not prove why he needed to attend the offsite, as the meeting can also be held online. Some Redditors opined that there is nothing he could do better next time he applies as visa approval mostly depends on the officer and another officer may have approved his visa.