Collection of Old F1 Visa experiences

Here is a small collection of F1 visa experiences of some old students from past 3 yrs. If have any other data please send it to msinusa@gmail.com so that that info can also be added to this. All information provided here is only to give a rough idea of visa interview.

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Guys,

I got visa on June 5th 2006 for Oklahoma State University at Chennai Consulate. My major is MS in Mechanical Engg. My Interviewer looks like an American born Indian, infact he is an American. My interview is just only for 2 or 3 minutes. VO looks very busy.

Me: Good morning Sir, How are you doing today?

Visa Officer: he wished me back and asked me to give him the folder which has all important documents set in order by embassy people.

Me: Yes sir. and i gave that folder to him.

Visa Officer: What are your Admits?

Me: Univ of Utah- Salt lake city, Oklahoma State University- Stillwater, University of South Florida-Tampa, Univ of South alabama-Mobile.

Visa Officer: Show me your Score cards and transcripts.

i gave him all those. Her looked at my scores and transcripts and typed something on his PC and scanned my transcript.

Later he released golden words - "U will receive ur Passport with visa with in 2 or 3 days". I am not able to understand clearly what he said. I said 'I m sorry'..He told me same sentence again. In that shocking and joyous moment :), i came out of the embassy. Thatz how i achieved my dream of MS in US ........

Comments: VO didn't asked about my sponsors or my financial status. Same thing happened in many cases. They just look at the confidence and the way you are answering. Always remember that a decent smile on your face can elevate your confidence.After visiting the visa consulate, i came to know that all visa officers always want to give visas. They never want to reject you.

- Ajay Kumar Cherukuri

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Experience 1

Dear friends,

i got visa on 30th april to lamar univ for summer term in M.S mech engg...

the visa interview is for about 5 mins....

the questions are

1) why this univ ?

2) In which field u have exp ?? ( i have exp of 6 yrs in ISO 9001 company )

3) What is ur area of specialisation ???

( i told advanced NDT methods as i have exp in that field...)

4) Explain about ur exp in that company ?

5) Tell me contact no's of prof u r corresponding over phone ??

I told him well known profs are available with that univ...i told him i am in touch with them over phone...if u say thro mails he will ask u proofs...)

6) last time u have applied to some other univ...why this time to

lamar ??? ( once i have reject in december 2002 )...so i told him my area of specialisation is good in lamar...

7) What is ur father ?

8) What is his annual income ?

9) Do u know car driving ?? ( this is testing question....so u shud say i know...because we shud act as we have car...because we are showing fixed assets of rs.1 crore and above ...so don't say i don't

know..)

10) What is ur car no ?? ( i told him my bike no...u shud tell the answer immediately...if u delay he will understand that we are lying )

so friends...all the best to all of u...

bye

Naren

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EXPERIENCE 2

Amit's profile: GRE-2030 TOEFL-617 [Old pattern GRE/TOEFL] University: Virginia Tech Stream-IE

Interviewer: please show me your I20.

(amit produces his I20)

Interviewer : what's your GRE score.

Amit: 2030

Inter..: Can I have look at your score sheet please.

(amit submits his GRE score sheet)

Interwiever: You seem to have a good GRE score.

Amit: Thankyou Sir

(Comments- actually amit was quite puzzled as to how the interviewer mentioned as his score to be high. But the matter of fact is that these people usually look at the verbal scores and amit had a high verbal score of 680.)

Interviewer : Which univ are you going to ?

Amit: Virginia tech .

interviewer: that's a very tough school. Why did you choose such a tough school?

Amit: Sir , the specialization which I want to pursue in IE is facilities design. and Virginia Tech is supposed to be one of the best schools for this specialization. That's the reason I chose this school.

(comments-One should never just say that the school is high ranked rather you should try and reply the way amit did ie talk more about the course specialization and don't forget to talk some techie stuff so that the interviewer gets the message that you know what you are going to do.)

Inter..:Do you have any financial support from the university?

Amit: No sir.

(Comment: always be straight forward about your aid status. Don't sat that I will get once I go to the university....etc etc.. remember this will always work against you.)

Inter..: Who's your sponsor?

Amit: my parents

Inter..: Do you have any supporting financial documents?

Amit: Yes Sir.

(amit now forwards his CA statement.)

Inter..: Do have anything more concrete than this?

Amit now forwards his bank statement

the interviewer has a look at it and gives it back to him

Interviewer: All the best son. Study well!

Amit was asked to pay his visa fee. which meant that he had got his visa.

Experience 3

VO: How do you plan to finance ur education.. 17K $ is a lot of money

ME: Yes Sir, My parents are sponsoring

VO: UR parents annual income is only 5L .. how can they sponsor u

(this is the trick question.. u get flustered here.. ur done )

ME: Yes Sir, its 5L.. they have saving of ...L and I am taking a bank loan of 12L ( this was more then required.. my total savings and bank.loan was about 1.5 times that required for 2 yrs ))

VO: So what will be ur repayment per month

ME: around 20thousand per month

VO: ( sounds very surprised and says ).. thats a lot of money... how can you repay ( he stares at me.. like i am some criminal ))

ME: ( with the same tone that he used.. ) 20 thousand is not at all a lot of money.. i am very sure of repaying it back. .it shouldnt be a problem at all

VO: Gives me a proper stare...looks right into my eyes

ME: Give him a smile

VO: Go pay ur fees.. i am on seventh heaven

Experience 4

Me: Good morning sir.

VO: Good morning.

VO: Why r u going to US?

Me: Sir I have been working for the past 3 years now. I always wanted to do research and I think this is the best time to pursue my goals as I have the valuable industry experience and good academic background to support me as well.

VO: Hmmm.. but why only this university.

Me: Infact sir I have got admits to other universities as well and....

VO: Which are the other universities.

ME: (I told him the list)

VO: Ok. So whats special about this university U R going to?

Me: Sir, I have interacted with quite a few graduate students at all the universities and I realize that this university I am going to has state of the art research facilities.

VO: Ok. So who is going to sponser ur education.

Me: My parents sir.

VO: Whats ur dad's annual income.

I thot he said family....

Me: Sir X Lakhs.

VO: Thats ur dad's income?

Me: Oh No sir. Thats my parents income. My dad's

income is YLakhs/PA.

He gives me a stare. Looks at me in disbelief.

Looks thru my papers....

Me: I point out the various documents in proof of Y lakhs/PA.

VO: Where is ur bank transaction statement.

Me: I show him the printout which has the transactions.

Finds a letter which states that I work for Tata Infotech Limited.

VO: Oh. U work for Tata's?

Me: Yes sir. For the past 3 years.

VO: So Tatas is sponsoring ur education?

Me: No sir. Tata's dont sponser higher education.

VO: But Tata's are very very rich.

Me: (just laughed).

Just passes all the documents below the window and says go and pay the visa fees at the counter

1] He [counsellor] asked me about my dad's annual income i told him he is earning about X lakhs per annum ... then he asked me that how much he will be providing you in that X lakhs.. i told him that he will be providing me X-1 lakhs for my education.

2] counsellor after seeing my I20 where it is mentioned my course duration as 3years including 1 year as grace . he kept hanging to it saying that my course duration is 3 years and u dont have sufficient funds to pay for it . i told him that only 2 years is the course duration and 1 year is grace he not even tried to listen my words. so any one going for counselling keep that in mind what to answer if this question is being posed to you.

Experience 5

My interview was like this.

Con. Officer: Hiii!!! (with a broad smile)

Me: Hello sir (Smiling)

Gave him my folder.

CO: Louisiana State University.

Me: Yes sir.

CO: Why this univ?

Me: My area of interest is VLSI and advanced research work is going on over there in this area.

CO: Look, the annual expenses are 16,000 USD and ur course duration is 2.5 years as per ur i-20, it comes to 50,000 USD.how will u meet these expenses?

Me: Sir, I am having a bank balance of 14.6 lacs and Fixed deposits of 2 lacs.

CO: what is your father?

Me: My father is -------- (told his occupation)

CO: What is his income?

Me: 4.5 lacs per annum sir.

CO: It is not sufficient I think.

Me: Sir, my brother is also sponsoring me for my education.

CO: What is he doing?

Me: He is working as --------- (told his occupation).

Co: where?

Me: In bangalore sir.

CO: What is his income?

Me: 1.8 lacs per annum sir.

Co: So, He can also support you for ur studies.

Me: Yes sir.

CO: what is ur mother?

Me: My mother is a house wife and she is having property, Con. Officer interrupted and said, property selling and all won't happen...

Me: She gets rents of about 1.3 lacs per annum through her property sir.

CO: OK. So what will u do with ur electrical engineering degree.

Me: I will return to india and work in a big company.

CO: Why not in US?

Me: Usual sir, family ties and all our property is located in india.

CO: Take all your documents.

Me: OK

CO: Goto the last counter and pay the DD.

He didn't check even one document of mine.

So be confident and tense free.

Experience 6

hi, this is my visa experience. i had the interview on october30 .it was 8:00 when i started for the embassy by the time i reached there it started to pour out heavily .all the ppl were drenched and then v were let in at 9:00 . i had to arrange my documnets and then wne to the counter to pay 3165 dd and the i was asked to go to another counter .there my doucments were taken(as i was rejected for fall 2001) and i shown the wayto the visa interview section.i just had the token number along with me and no file(as they give the documnet file normally to all) .i got tensed up and then i have many ppl been rejected by counter 1 and so thought k mine also will b in the same status if was called the person in counter 1. and to fate i was called upon by him.

venkat: hello sir

cou:hi howzz life

venkat:fine

cou:u were rejected last time for univ.of bridgeport

and now that u have applied with western michgan

univ.. why not bridge port?

venkat: wmu is rated among the top 100 institutions and this is a far better univ than when considered to bridge port.

cou: which branch r u going for?

venkat:electrical engineering

cou:y m.s.?

venkat:in b.e. v just have the overview ie the fundamentals of all the subjects rather than the specialsation which can be done only through m.s.

cou:y wmu?

venkat:i wanted to do a specialisation in programmable

logic controller and wmu is one of the outstanding univ in that field in research.

cou:y only in u.s.a?

venkat: sir i have have been to many interviews and i have found that many mnc prefer students with international degree and exposure even though not having experience than compared to ppl who have indian

degree and hands on experience.

cou: what is ur father doing?

venkat:he is working as accounts officer in hindustan

cables ,central gov..

cou:what is ur father sal?

venkat:7,70,000

cou: i think ur college fees id $15,000 .and i dont think u will b able to pay..?

venkat: please look at the bank statements i have 15laks in indian bank,4lak in andhra bank and a fixed of 4 lak on my name ..so i can dispose whenever i want to.

cou: i think ur anal score is less(440)?

venkat: sir i think my anal score wount affect me and my performance as for an electrical engg. he needs to have a good quants score that i have ..

cou: what have u been doing in the span from fall2001 till date?

( i gueesed that he might ask this and so i took a work exp certificate from my uncle power project)

venkat: sir i have been working in my uncle company with zero salary just only for experience.

cou:repeat it

venkat: sir u have heard it correctly i have worked for no salary

cou: show me the certificate

venkat: showed the papers

cou: what is company?

venkat:skj power project

cou: what is it?

venkat : its a hydel powerproject

cou:what is hydel power project mean?

venkat: generation of power from water.

cou: take all ur documents along with the college fees

venkat:k

cou: then the golden words)

i was the lst person to b interviewed and to my worst for a long time .i feel all those who r going please look into the eyes of ur counselor and talk and please say ur answers in a loud manner thats all i can say please feel free to contact me

my email id venkatvasu@rediffmail.com

bye. wish u all the best

Experience 7

the moment im in front of the win,,im asked

VO: y us? (no greeetings at all,,,only bzness)

me: sir, i'd like to do a specialisation coz a bachelor in engg just gives an overview of the diff fields associated with (my major) like signal processin, n/win , power elex etc,,,i'd like to specialise in a partiular field that wud later fetch me a job in an industry of my choice.

VO:wich industry wud that b?

me: bak here in india v ve companies deeelin with n/win n telecomm like bharti telecom,mtnl, bsnl etc also there r sm companies based in india with tie ups with us like hughes,orange etc,,i'd like to b a part of ne of these

VO: wat do yer mother/father dfo?

me: my dadz so n so n maz a teacher

vo: yer annual income?

me: 5.1 lacz ,,thaz inclusive of income fm other sources,,that is,,interest fm savings,bonds etc.

vo: sho me the score reports?

i produce the same

vo: the told me - u got visa go and have fun.

Experience 8

me : good morning sir

vo : show mw ur I20 and passport

me : handover the documents

vo : why usa

me : sir, 80 % of the world's reseach in engg. is going on in USA. naturally, USA is the obvious choice for an engg. student.

vo : show me ur GRE score card

me : ( hand over the same, takes a qick look at them)

vo : show me ur BTEch degree

me: ( hand this ovcer to him) ..

vo: ok...u vil receive you visa with in 3 days.

ask " sir, i have got the visa ?

vo : ( with a bland look on da face) yeah.

me: thank you sir.

Experience 9

off: hi

me: good afternoon sir,

off: so u have done u 'r engg?

me : yes sir

off: what was ur major:

me: electrical engg

off: so u r going for ur ms or Ph.D.?

me: m.s sir

off: in what subj.?

me: in high voltage engg and power systems?

off: power systems,good,u can do a lot for your country

me: yes, with the current power deficit in India I am sure I can do a lot for my country

off: hmm,ur GRE scores are not too good

me: I guess it was just one of the days when everything went wrong.(trust e i doono what made me say that as i had a tottly diff answ prepared) off:this could be your lucky day then, just show me the funds to afford this collge.

me: yes sir I have _ _ lakhs in S/B account,_ _ in FD

off:_ _ lakhs in S/B....now now how did u get that kinda money

me:sir I have my pass book u can see it

off: no I dont want to ,u just tell

me:sir in my first year of eng it was decided that I was going to do an mS ever since we have been putting aside certain amonts of money ,which we have rotated from different banks and maintained in one account

which would facilitate easier transaction between the university and bank off:ok

me" sir I also had a property in my name which I sold last yr.,I have the deed papers would u like to see it

off:no no,

off:hey have u seen the movie Mississippi masala

me:no sir,but heard it was a good movie

off:it is

me:i think it was made by an indian director mira nair

off: thats right,..ok..u wil have your visa in 2 or 3 days...

me:thank you sir and have a nice day

Experience 10

ME; YES SIR,

VO:WHY U CHOOSE THIS SCHOOL?