VISA TIPS

Visa tips

First of all you need to have an appointment to attend visa interview. All the visa interviews will be conducted at American consulates.

Try to arrive 30 minutes earlier to visa interview time. As you enter the consulate , a guard will search you and your bags for suspicious objects. You need to show you HDFC bank receipts at the entrance of the consulate.

Then after moving some distance in there will be another security check point. Security people will check you again.

In the next point to the Security check you will be given seating. At this point you need to wait until you are called. Here your I20, GRE/TOEFL score cards, DS-forms will be taken and employees over there set all of the them in right way in a Folder and they give you the folder to you.

Next you can proceed to the main hall where the visa interviews goes on. As you enter the main Hall you will be sent the Finger Print section where you need to give your finger prints.

Now again you will be given seating. This is where all the action is. From the seating position you will see some counters where the people stand in Queues in front of each counter. Each and every counter has a Visa Office. Mostly all visa officers are Americans. You can listen to the questions asked by visa officers (while the interview is going on for other applicants) from your seating.

Next you will be sent to one of the visa counters where you will be interviewed with visa Visa Officer. You and Visa officer will be separated by a Glass wall. You have to give him the documents from the gap at bottom of the glass wall. You interview may take 5-30 minutes based on the visa officer mood and your answering capability.

If visa Officer would like to give you visa he will keep your passport with him and the passport with visa stamp will be couriered to you after 2-3 days.

Here is one interesting thing about F1visa interview. You might think some thing like - you will given a seat and you have to sit in front of visa officer and he will ask you questions. But the actually there is nothing like that. You just need to stand in visa interview infront of visa officer.

When applying for an F-1 visa the applicant needs to show the following:

• Strong home ties to your country

• Intent to return home after studies and Practical Training have been completed.

• continuing students only need to demonstrate maintenance of F-1 status (continuous full time enrollment, no work without authorization.)

Before the interview prepare your answers to the following questions:

What are your home country ties?

• show that you or family members own property

• show that there is a job waiting for you after graduation

• show that family members remain at home and have not immigrated to the United States

• show that you have completed any required military service if you are subject to such requirements

Are you prepared for your education?

• show that your language skills are adequate for study in a US university

• show that you have been a serious student before coming to the US

Are you a serious student? (especially for continuing students)

• show that you are getting good grades (have a transcript ready)

• show that you are continuously enrolled as a full time student (have a transcript ready)

• if you have received authorization for a reduced courseload, be prepared to show photocopies and answer questions about this

• show that you have registered for the following semester (fee receipt/class schedule)

• show that you are making normal progress toward getting your degree

How will you apply your education in your home country?

• show that you know the job market at home for graduates with your major

• show that you know what companies are hiring students with your major and that you have begun contacting these companies or at least begun research as to which companies you would like to work with

• show that you have discussed with academic advisors how you are going to apply your US education in your country. Letters of support from faculty will be very helpful.

How are you going to pay for your education and living expense in the United States?

• show bank statements, sponsor letters, affidavit of support.

• show that you are aware of the length of time it will take to complete your entire program and you have a continued source of support for the full program.

• for continuing students, you may want to show fee receipts and personal bank account monthly statements which show that university invoices are paid and that there are regular deposits from home into your bank account.

• students who indicate that they intend to work, even legally, to earn part of their expenses in the US are likely to have the visa denied.

What to expect at your interview?

Your interview will be brief and conducted in English. You may want to practice your interview with a friend before making your visa application. You will want to make a favorable impression in the first minute or two of the interview, since the Consul official is under time pressure to conduct a short and efficient interview. Keep your answers short and to the point. Show a positive attitude and do not argue with the Consul official. If you are denied, ask the officer for a list of the additional documents he or she would suggest you provide for your next interview.

You could have low scores or you could have 20 or 30 backlogs , you could have done mistakes in documents, or you could carry fake documents related to finance, degree certificates, property documents. VO job is to make a decision about you in few minutes they have. They might in average talk to you for 3 minutes or so. If you have all the right credentials and you might not get Visa, and someone with fake documents might get Visa, so its that few minutes, you have to present yourself to impress them and get your student visa.

Now, lets assume you are in the queue waiting to be called for the interview.

- When you walk to the window, have a big smile and wish them

- You could say Hi, Hello, Good Morning, Good Evening, anything is fine.

- Eye Contact is must all the times. From the moment you walk-in towards the window, look deep into their eyes and smile and wish them "Hello".

- If you don't make good eye contact, then you are reducing your Visa chances.

- Now, you made good eye contact, then its about how to present your answers.

- I'm sure you should have answers prepared for all possible questions. So, next big thing is "DON'T LIE"

- If you lie, then your entry into U.S.A is not possible for your lifetime. So, don't even think about lying to get Visa.

- Some have mastered the art and the lie they speak will be convincing. If you belong to that category, you have good chances.

- If you are not sure and not comfortable to make up an answer, then DON'T LIE

- Now, you will be convinced and made a decision, not to lie. Then VO asks this question " Who do you plan to do after MS?"

- Majority of student will say answers like this..

" My field is growing in India, I will good job opportunities, when I come back"

" I will work for 1 year in OPT period, gain the experience and come back"

- Let me ask you this, do you really think answers like I will return back to India will suffice them? They know how many student go to U.S. every year, how many return back.

- VO know, why would you have to spend $40,000 for 2 years and come back to India get Rs40,000 per month. They know student will not come back. It will be very few percentage of students return.

- So, for the question, I would answer " After Graduation, I will party hard, and then will look for job" that's simple and straight forward answer.

- The above answer is much different from what you have on your list. But, the above answer will work.

- Next, for the question related to finance documents, make sure you know the source of each funds in the bank statement. VO will ask about transactions, only if they feel something might be wrong in the finance documents.

- In general, it will be like

Who is your sponsor?

What does sponsor do?

How much is his/her income?