Having been through this process once and hoping to never have to do it again - my sympathies.

I have one piece of advice for next time. The visa interviewers are usually rushed and trying to move on quickly. Slow them down and address their concerns.

You response to Officer: You are too young to be CTO. Whatever you just said does not make any sense. How long is your visit? Answer: 1 month

is not enough. The officer mentioned a concern but didn't phrase it as a question. Nevertheless you need to address it head on and put their doubts to rest. Give them the full story on it.

I'm an attorney. I don't know a whole lot about immigration policy, but I know some fantastic immigration attorneys in the Boston area that I can put you in contact with. I'm sure there is a solution to this that won't have you hung up too long.

My email is Chris at LexSpot dot com.

As an American, I am truly sorry. Depending on the size of embassy/consulate you may have lost the which person sees your case lottery. If you could find someone else there to talk to about the situation it might help. Also perhaps try going to the American Chamber of Commerce. I believe they help business people get visas (although you may need to become a member).

Thanks for the suggestion ohashi. I will give a 2nd shot at the visa interview. If they reject me again, I will probably approach the American Chamber of Commerce then!

This is just one of many examples of how the global immigration system is completely failing to stay relevant to today's globalised society. I'm a global citizen...If I want to go on holiday, or a business trip, I don't want to have to apply for a Visa weeks before. I don't want to have to carry a physical passport about with me that expires when I have too many stamps. As a country, all you really care about is that I'm not a security risk, I'm not an illegal immigration risk, I'm not a criminal, and I'll pay whatever taxes are due. I'm ok with that, but surely there's a better way for both of us?

The problem is not the "global immigration system". The EU has extremely liberal policies with other EU countries, for example. It's the U.S. immigration system. It sucks balls.

The EU (or at least the Schengen countries) are getting there, but there are plenty of other countries that are problematic as well as the US. I'm British, so the EU is easy (still need a physical passport though), the US isn't too bad for tourism, but was painful to get a work visa for. I live in the Middle East, and love travelling to India which means a mountain of paperwork and a 3-month freeze-out each time I go. I could visit east Africa for a weekend on a whim, but I never do because of the visa lead-times. It strikes me that the best thing some countries could do for development is streamline their visa processes.

The U.S. is among the worse ones, but the E.U. is not great either if you're an Indian national trying to get a visa that allows business activity.

Answer: talk to a lawyer who knows the ropes

Thanks for your reply michael. But can you please elaborate how will consulting a lawyer help my case?

You were treated wrongly.

A good lawyer who specialises in immigration will know what to do next.

Pretty much any foreign national who wants to do business in or with the U.S. needs to have an immigration lawyer. It will save you money. Lawyers are expensive but, trust me, a good one will save you money and hassle.

Thanks for the reply. And Glad to know I am talking to the Nasdaq CTO :-) Anyways, I thing the consul officer did not have much idea about how tech companies function and she must have expected a CEO, CTO to be an aged guy. In that case, is she not aware of Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter???

An immigration worker isn't likely to have heard of Pinterest. They've probably heard of Facebook & Twitter but they're likely not entirely aware of the ages of people involved.

Use an attorney for important requests such as visas. Immigration employees are overworked and underpaid, and sometimes rush through their decisions.

An attorney will help ensure that you have all the right papers in order, and give you important advice for the visa process. Now that you have one rejection on your file, it is especially important to get it right next time.

The ridiculous thing is that he's only 7 years younger than the CTO of Facebook, and a mere 3 years younger than the CEO.

#SiliconValleyProblems