 If you're a founder, have your own business, own a startup or work in a startup and you're looking for a USA B1 visa, then this video is for you. Keep on watching. Hi guys, my name is Shachi and I'm a travel and visa coach. On this channel, you'll find lots of useful videos on the US visa process. We have an entire playlist for US B1 visa. So make sure to check it out. You will also find lots of free resources for your preparation in the description box below. So do take a look at that once you're done watching this video. So a USA B1 visa also called the business visa allows you to visit US for work. So you could use this visa to attend any meetings. It could be internal meetings, client meetings, investor meetings. You could also use this visa for attending trainings, workshops and events. So if you're working in a startup or you're the founder or owner of a business, then the USA B1 visa process can look slightly different from a regular B1 visa applied from a company or from a MNC. So in this video, we're going to deep dive into exactly this. We'll start by understanding what are the visa officers that are actually looking for to giving you some actionable visa interview tips. And make sure to stick around till the end because we also have some sample answers which are going to help you answer the most important question of the visa interview. Let's get started. So let's start by understanding what visa officers are looking for. So if you're a founder of a startup, you own a business or you run a company, then the main focus of the visa officer is going to be the credibility of your business. So the visa officer are going to ask questions to establish the credibility, the genuineness of the business and to see whether everything that you're saying actually exists or not. And for establishing the credibility, there are three factors that they look at. Number one is track record of work. The number of years your company has existed, how many employees you have. Number two, financials. So they can ask you questions on the financial side such as what is the turnover, what is the revenue of your company and have you generated any profits or have you received any funding. And number three, user base. So they can ask you questions to determine what is your user base in the sense how many customers, how many clients you have, what is the audience you have. And to understand what is the reach, what is the use case of your business. So right from the time you start filling the DS160 form to preparing your answers for the visa interview, keep these three factors in mind and try to establish as strong credibility for your business as possible. So if you're still here, still watching the video, do give this video a thumbs up and comment below and let me know your visa interview date and the location or the embassy that you're going for. Now the next part of the video, we're going to be looking at some actionable visa interview tips. So let's dive into it. The first thing that we're going to start with is the DS160. The US visa process is not a document heavy process. In fact, almost no documents are asked in the interview, but there is one form that you're asked to fill in the submit and that is the DS160 form. So I would say that the DS160 form is really, really important and this is what the visa officer is going to read and look at when he takes your interview. So you need to fill the DS160 form accurately and completely. There is one page in the DS160 form, it's called the work and education section and this is the most important part of the form. So in the work and education section, you're asked a question, briefly describe your duties. So this needs to be written well, it needs to be descriptive and this needs to clearly explain your business as well as your role in it. The most common mistake that we see is that this description is too short. It's very basic and it just mentions one line like I'm the founder, I'm the owner or this is my designation, but that's not enough. So the structure that you can follow for filling this particular question is that you start by describing what your business, what your company is about. So start this para by talking about your company, give a one line introduction about your company, about your business or your startup. The reason why this is important is that very, very likely that the visa officer has not heard the name of the company on the startup or he does not know what the business is about. So this one line introduction will set the context and will help him understand what exactly you're working on. A few examples could be XYZ is a fintech startup, we are into lending solutions and currently we have a user base of XYZ. Another example could be XYZ is a healthcare company, we are simplifying and automating insurance payments and we are seriously funded. So these are just few examples to give you an idea of how you can introduce your company or your business. Once you have written that in the form, next come to your role in the company and again make it descriptive. Make sure that you're writing at least three to four points which shows your importance, your role in the company. If possible structure the role in such a way that it is connecting to the purpose of the visit to the US. For example, let's say that the purpose of your visit is to meet potential investors. Then your role in the company could be on the business development side, user adoption side or leading a new business vertical or leading a new product. So take time to structure your role well and whatever are the highlights of your profile like for example maybe you manage a team or you completely own the product or you were the first few hires in the company, all of that should be clearly highlighted in the briefly describe your duties. So this is what you need to take care about the DS160 form. If you need our help in filling your DS160 form or getting it reviewed, then do reach out. The link for this is right below in the description box. Now that we've understood the DS160 form, let's talk about the interview preparation. So for the interview there are about 10 to 12 questions to be prepared with and you will find the complete list of these questions in the description box below. However, there is one question which is really important and always asked in the visa interview and that is the purpose of your visit. So this is a question usually asked right in the beginning. The visa officer can ask you what is the purpose of the visit? Why are you applying for the visa? Why do you want to go to the US? So we'll start by looking at certain don'ts and then look at the dos and some sample answers. So the number one don't I have for purpose of visit is do not give one line generic answers. So one line generic answers like I'm going to attend client meeting. I'm going to attend a business meeting. I'm going to attend my investor. These answers do not convey any information to the visa officer and he's going to ask you more and more and more questions to get clarity and to understand why exactly you want to be in the US. On the contrary, the purpose of visit should be like a short story. It should essentially summarize things and give complete information to the visa officer. So let's look at how to do the purpose of visit answer. So the structure to follow is start with a one line introduction about yourself. Then talk about the actual purpose of the visit and then add one or two lines about the importance of this purpose of visit. So I'm going to show you some sample answers now for the purpose of visit to give you more clarity and help you frame your answer. The first sample is for a person who is the founder or the owner of the business. So what is the purpose of your visit? I'm the founder of a funded fintech startup and I want to go to the US to meet two of my existing and one potential investor. We are launching the next version of our product and it is important to meet the investors to make them understand the product roadmap, the strategy and look at potential funding options. So you will see that in this sample very clearly the introduction is there, the main purpose is there and also the importance of this purpose for the business as mentioned. Now let's look at another sample and this sample is for a person who is not the founder or the owner of the business but works in a startup. So what is the purpose of your visit? I'm working as a member of a core team and the director of engineering. Purpose of my visit is to meet two of our biggest potential clients who are in the US. We are seeing an increased business in the US and my company wants me to go meet these clients, give them a product demo, present the user strategy. Since I have been part of this product right from the inception, my company wants me to go and handle these meetings and contribute to the growth in the business from the US. So again in this purpose you will see that the introduction and the role of the person in the company is clearly mentioned. The purpose and the importance of it is also mentioned. So I hope that these samples give you an idea of how you can frame your answers and if you want a more detailed preparation you can get in touch with me. We can do a one-to-one session to prepare your profile, frame your answers. We can also do a mock session to help you get some interview practice and you will find the link for all of these services in the description box below. Now that we've understood about the DS160 form and the interview, let's look at the documents. So you will get a complete checklist of the documents to carry in the PDF in the description box but there are two documents which I would say are most important. So let's talk about that. The first one is the invite letter. So invite letter is something which is important in a B1 visa interview and invite letter is issued by the US entity, the person or the organization whom you're meeting. So if you're meeting an investor, it should be from your investor. If you're meeting a client, it should be from the client. If you're meeting some other company or organization, it should be from that company or the organization. And invite letter essentially gives proof of this meeting or proof of this visit to the visa officer and confirms everything that you have been saying as your purpose of visit. We have a format for the invite letter which you will find in the description box. You can use this format and get it prepared from the US entity or the person. A good invite letter should have three things. Number one, it should be from the US entity or the organization on their letter head. Number two, it should mention your name and your role in the company very clearly. And number three, it should also give details of the visit. For example, what dates you're visiting, what is the purpose of your visit and who exactly you're meeting. Apart from the invite letter, the second documents which would be good to carry are any proof of your business. So let's say that you have any media mentions, you have any other stories, you have any other pictures, any proof of work or proof of concept, then it would be good to carry all of this with you for the visa interview. So this is everything that you need for your B1 visa preparation. I really hope that this video has helped you. If you have more questions, feel free to leave it in the comment section below. You can also reach me on Instagram. My Instagram handle is at shachi.mul and we have a lot more useful videos coming up in the B1 visa category. So make sure to check it out and do check all the links in the description box for all the resources which are gonna help you. Signing off for now. I'll see you in the next one. Don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned. Take care. Bye bye.