US B1B2 Visa rejected as Software consultant from India

Question

I am a Software engineer since 2015 and Remote worker serving global startups since 2020, worked with remote companies from Germany, Singapore and US (Currently).

I got my US B1B2 Visa appointment rejected today with 214(B) clause (Not able to prove strong ties with his/her home country). Probably, the reason was that, I was unable to explain them what I do as a business person and why my physical presence is required for my client (US startup). But, I think It was predominantly because of the structure of my financial setup i currently have > I have a Private limited entity registered as IT services in India with 95% share holding (& rest 5% in my Mom's name) , I draw a nominal salary/director remuneration from the company as Director and try to make all business expenses from company's account ( helps me to manage my taxes better & helps in setting up Stripe for the MicroSaaS offerings). Questions asked by the officer (Lady in her late 40s):

Q. What is your purpose of visit?

As a Director of Engineering for Dripping coffee labs pvt ltd, a software consulting firm. My client has invited me to discuss roadmap of their upcoming deliverables with their engineering team and negotiate the terms of the consulting contract.

Q. What is your duration of your intended stay?

2 Weeks

What is the salary your are drawing?

*Shared

What does your client do?

They are developing mapping infrastructure for Self driving cars and vision based technology for ADAS system intended to provide SaaS offering to clients like Daimler and Ford.

So, what is your role & your company's role in this?

The Client outsource their API development requirement to Dripping Coffee labs and I work for them as consultant.

*Officer looked bit confused and said: "At this time and at your age it doesn't feel like you need to have a physical visit to US. So, I am rejecting your application this time. But, You are welcome to apply again"

I think I should have just tell them, I am a Remote Software Engineer working for US Based startup rather than going into the details of company as tech consulting business which further complicates the narrative.

Any food for thoughts?

Answer 1

You have a few different things working against you here.

1. In today's world of web-based conferencing & calling, "to discuss roadmap of their upcoming deliverables with their engineering team and negotiate the terms of the consulting contract" is not a particularly good reason for needing your physical presence in the USA. That kind of thing can typically be done just as well using Zoom, Teams, or whatever your favorite app is.
2. As pointed out in a comment on your question, the nature of your work means that you don't appear to need to return back home to India to continue to work for your existing customers.
3. It's not stated anywhere in your question, but you don't give any details of other commitments which would encourage you to return back home to India. Things like family (spouse, children) & fixed property (house) are the kinds of things you're more likely to return to, so without those kinds of ties back home there's a higher perceived risk that you'll stay in the USA.

_{I was in a similar situation to you about 20 years ago. I operated an engineering consultancy business from South Africa and I was invited by a customer in the USA to visit for 10 days. However in my case I was also conducting training and information handover for some physical hardware I had designed & built for them, and back then the state of web-based conferencing was not nearly as seamless as it (mostly) is today. I was lucky in that the visa officer interviewing me considered me sufficiently trustworthy on the balance of probabilities so I was issued a B1 visa, but only for the specific 10 days I had asked for, and the company I was visiting was explicitly noted on the visa itself.}