US F1 Visa Interview Process

Getting U.S. Student Visa (F-1) will get you one step closer to attending college/university in United States. Every student have to go through the U.S. Visa interview process. F1 Visa interview tips in this article will help you understand the what Visa Officer (VO) expect from prospective students. Based on that you can prepare for the interview.

US F1 Visa Interview Basics

• Proper Documentation
• How you present yourself during the interview
• Way you answer the questions.

In this article I’m going to explain in detail about US visa interview process. Key to get visa stamping is to understand the process and prepare according to the process.  Can you expect to get high marks in the exam without preparation? Same case applies to visa interview.

U.S. F1 Visa Interview Process

Visa interview officers are well trained to identify good from bad students. If you are well prepared with answers for F1 Visa Interview Questions, then you can get through the interview with ease.  VO are trained to find

• Who you are?
• Do you have academic capability to complete the studies in U.S.
• Do you have enough financial resources to cover the cost of education in U.S.

You could have done mistakes in documents, or have  fake documents related to finance, degree certificates, property documents, … VO job is to make a decision about the you in few minutes.

You might have all the right credentials, but F1  Visa could be denied and someone with fake documents might get F1 Visa stamping. It all depends on tat few minutes on how you present yourself.  Now, lets assume you are in the queue waiting to be called for the interview.

Inside Visa Interview

• When you walk to the interview window, have a big smile and wish them. You could say Hi, Hello, Good Morning, Good Evening.
• Eye Contact is MUST. 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 chances to get F1 Visa. Now, you made good eye contact, then its about how to present your answers.

• Next big thing – Don’t Lie for the questions asked.
• If you lie and if they identify that you are lying are gave contradicting answers, then your entry into U.S.A is will be tough.
• Some have mastered the art lying. If you belong to that category, don’t mess it up (again that’s not recommend)
• If you are not sure and not comfortable to make up an answer, thenDON’T LIE
• Now, you will be convinced and made a decision, not to lie. Then VO asks this question “What’s your plan after Graduation?”

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”

• 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 for sure students returning back to home country is very less. It will be very few percentage of students return.

• So, for such  question speak the trust  “After Graduation, I will party hard, and then will look to spend my OPT period working for US company” that’s simple and straight forward answer. Other way is to say, "I plan to work for few years, get U.S. corporate life experience and then plan to come back".

• I know the above answer is much different from what you have on your list. But, the above answer should 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?

• Make sure you have bank statement for student visa with you. Also don’t forget to read F1 Visa Interview Tips [15 Rock solid tips].

In coming posts, I will write about bank documents tailored for Student F1 Visa, how much bank balance to show, how to create a fund flow chart for student visa interview. Few of my friends have got F1 student visa after getting rejected for 3-4 times. Some students prefer to use the same bank statement that was used for college admission. Those statements used for college admission will be old and probably funds showed during college admission will be less. For student visa, you would need to show more bank balance.