Skill Maestro Blog

All accepted undergraduate and graduate program students from India require an F1 visa stamping to get into the U.S.A and stay there for the entire duration of the program. In this blog we will try to address the most frequently asked questions on how to apply for a student visa, the basic documentation needed, and issues to tackle before you can confidently answer the F1 visa interview questions at the American consulate.

Visa Descriptions and Qualifications

If you are applying for regular graduate programs (like an MS/MBA degree) or undergraduate courses, you’d need an ‘F category visa’. As a student, you will need an F-1 visa and your dependents (if any) would need an F-2 visa.

There are also other types of non-immigrant visas like the ‘J visa’ (exchange visitors), ‘M visa’ (for vocational and non-academic programs), ‘B visa’ (visitor) and of course the ever popular H1B and L1 categories (work permits).There are two student visa categories, F-1 and M-1.

F-1: The F-1 visa permits students to enroll in a full-time course of academic study, leading to a degree such as the Doctorate, the Bachelor or Master’s Degree or a high school diploma.

M-1: The M-1 visa is for non-academic or vocational education, and it includes courses of study in fields such as aviation, language studies, gemology etc.

Criteria for qualification for student visa

Admit from a SEVP certified university: The first and the foremost criteria for going for the student visa is to have an admission from a (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) SEVP certified university. These universities can issue the I-20 (main thing which sets the visa process going).
Capacity to complete your degree: You should be able to demonstrate that you are capable of completing the MS degree in USA. This can be achieved by showing your previous academics (CGPA), GRE score & relevant projects.
You have enough money to sponsor your education
You should not be a potential immigrant and explains that you would return back to (home country) upon completion of your studies.

The I-20 form issued by the university and a valid Indian passport are two essential documents for obtaining an F1 (student) visa. Your passport must be valid for at least six months from the date of travel.

Once you get I-20 forms from all the universities offering you admission you will have to decide which university you wish to join. Of course even if you book a date for visa interview for a particular university, you can change that university before you appear for the visa interview, either through VFS or directly at the consulate.

Carefully check that the information printed on the I-20 form is correct and has no mistakes in spelling or the dates. If you find any mistakes send the I-20 form back to the university requesting them to issue a corrected I-20 form. If there are mistakes your visa can be rejected on technical grounds.

How to Apply?

Complete the SEVIS (STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR INFORMATION SERVICE) form

Go to www.fmjfee.com
Click on Submit I-901 form and submit fee payment
Fill out the information appropriately
Finally pay the $200 Sevis Fee and save your receipt

Completion of DS – 160 Form

Go to http://www.ustraveldocs.com
Fill out the form appropriately
Don’t forget to save your Application ID
Fill out the form and submit it. Now you are ready to take your Visa Date

Create your profile at the UStraveldocs

Go to http://www.ustraveldocs.com/in/index.html?firstTime=No
Click on Create Account
Fill out the form appropriately

Pay the Visa Fee

At the end of the form, in payment option select over the counter – Axis Bank
You have to take out the print of the slip opened in the new tab
Take that slip to Axis bank and Pay $160 and receive the confirmation receipt

Schedule an Appointment

You must schedule two appointments; one for the VISA Application Center (VAC) and one for the visa interview at the Embassy or Consulate
You will need three piece of information to book an appointment: your passport number, VISA application Fee receipt, 10-digit bar code number from your DS-160 confirmation page

Visa Application Centre appointment

You will have to visit VAC for Biometrics test
You will be required to bring

A valid passport
DS-160 confirmation page
Appointment confirmation page

After visit to VAC, you will need to visit to the Embassy for the interview

Visa Interview at US Embassy

For visa interview, you will be required to bring the following documents:

A printed copy of your appointment confirmation letter
Current and old passports
Supporting document as per your Visa type
Applications without all of these items will not be accepted

Where Can I apply for an F1 visa in India?
Candidates, who need to apply for F1 visas in India, will find U.S. Consulates in the following cities:

Hyderabad
Chennai
Kolkata
Mumbai
Bangalore (a virtual consulate)
The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi has a consular section as well

This means if you are located in other cities, you will need to travel to the closest U.S. embassy / consulate for the F1 visa interview and to get your student visa stamped.

In the next blog, we are going to discuss the most frequently asked questions for the F1 Visa and the best strategies to answer these.

Most frequently asked F1 visa interview Questions & Answers

Disclaimer: We aren’t any legal experts and this post is just to give you a quick overview of the F1 visa requirements to enter and live in the USA as a graduate student.

About Skill Maestro

At Skill Maestro, We guide prospective students about the entire application process as well as suitable universities as per their profile/test scores. We have consulted dozens of prospective students for MIS across the globe. We have a physical presence in Indore where we also help students prepare for GRE, GMAT & SAT Follow Us on Google+!

About the Author

Pankaj has been consulting on the MBA application process / Study abroad opportunities since 2009. He is chief mentor and consultant at Skill Maestro, a GMAT prep and MBA admissions consulting company launched in 2009 and has since helped thousands of clients gain admission to the most selective business schools in the world, many with merit scholarships. He has been conducting seminars and webinars for various professionals to help them realize their potential for Top B-Schools. Being 97 percentile scorer (Top 3%) in GMAT, Pankaj has strong grasp on the exam structure and his comprehensive study material has helped thousands of candidates to score high in GMAT. His expertise in delivering flawless, scholarship oriented essays makes him most sought after admission consultants in India Follow him on Google+!

Stellar profiles but several rejects. What went wrong?

Another year of admits and rejects has come to an end. So, a lot of you didn’t get the news you were hoping for. After months of hard work on your GRE, application and then few months of anxiety ridden anticipation, finding out you were rejected can be heart breaking.

Adding to dismal is the news of friends or members on FaceBook group who got through same university from where you were dinged. If you believe you’re actually more qualified than the
accepted student, then it’s even worse.

Why do scenarios like this come to pass? How can it be that two people who have same GRE score, same GPAs, same projects/ work ex or seem similar on paper meet such different fates? How can someone who’s a stellar candidate receive a ding when a so-so applicant is accepted?

There are four main answers to those questions:

Competition, competition and too much of competition:

You blame it on time or blame it on booming economy of US, post recession, but the year undeniably has been very competitive. Most of the students decide their safe and ambitious universities looking at acceptance scenario of students in past few years or they consult it with seniors who went to US during economic turmoil when admissions were not so competitive. You might be grossly misinformed if your choices were based on past data. A university, which was considered to be safe in year 2012 at GRE 320 might not be safe in 2015 with same score. On talking to a friend who works in admission committee of a prestigious university, we got to know that this year he observed sudden surge of applicants with work experience. Most of these applicants wrote their GRE in 2012-13 and were waiting for right time to enter USA. In this wait, they gathered substantial amount of work experience, which bolstered their admission chances and gave them edge over other applicants who in spite of good GRE, acads and projects were not able to reflect practical exposure on the SOPs.

If you have impeccable profile, high GRE/GPAs and have been successful in career so far, that is great, but it does not guarantee admission to top universities. We have observed that most candidates applying to top MS programs are bright, achievers in their territory and who would be an asset to any school. So don’t forget that adcomms evaluate tons of deserving profiles coming to their desk. That is the reason why you need to think beyond your obvious achievements and position yourself using stories and experiences that are truly memorable and unique, especially if you belong to most common applicant pool such as IT.

Early bird catches the worm

Not to forget the famous proverbial, which fits the reason why you got rejected? Timing of you application is very crucial. You always get an advantage if you apply early. The reason is simple “probability” – More seats leads to better admit chances. We have seen several average GRE scores getting into decent universities in early application. Same universities become competitive for above average scorers in later rounds. A friend, who might have scored less in GRE but got into a better university than yours, must have started early. Pro activeness always pays off. This doesn’t mean that adcoms will accept less deserving students, just because they applied early but because in the first round pool of applicants they found student’s application deserving (Relatively). Moreover, you don’t know absolutely everything about other applicant’s candidacy. Adcoms are interested more than just career experiences and even if you read some student’s SOP who got into a better university, you probably are oblivion to every single detail that was included in their application and recommendation letters. Chances are your background, motivation and demographic are not as unique as you thought and Adcom saw something in other student that they were looking for.

Pre application discussion (Nobody told you this right?)

Some students at IITS, NITs, who are targeting universities like CalTech, Stanford, MIT etc, start their application process as early as in their IIIrd year or few months before application season. They start their process by getting in touch with the professors of their desired programs. Don’t assume this to be “Jugaad thing” which several delusional candidates believe works in US university application process. This is a very traditional approach, which dates back to the time when there were no consultants in market. Prospective students used to write email directly to the professors to understand their own fit with the program. The approach still exists and due to good awareness at IITs, most of the students have already talked to the professor before applying. The professor knows your work personally and in case he finds you deserving, he might recommend you strongly to admission committee. We recommend this approach to almost every student who applies to US university. The only thing to keep in mind is that you have to start early. .

Projecting your profile (Can make or break your outcome)

How you project your profile can make a hell lot of difference. Yes, you read it right. I meet several students who think that their SOPs are flawless and still they were not good enough to persuade admission committee. What you project and how you project about yourself matters a lot. I have seen students bombarding the SOPs with all recently learned wordlist, which at times becomes obnoxious for someone to read. Plethoras of these words make no contextual sense and gives impression of verbose SOP. It is highly recommended to use vocabulary with good contextual sense. Importance of SOP cannot be negated in lieu of good scores and academics. We have seen hundreds of students getting into top ranked US universities in spite of low scores in standardized test. Is that a magic wand? Answer is NO. It is pristine art of beautifully drafted SOP that coherently captures the rationale of pursuing higher studies. Every candidate has a unique story about his academic achievements, extracurricular activities, family upbringing, future goals and struggles in life. Admission committee is all ears about unique stories of candidates which gives them a distinct perspective about candidate’s potential. While writing SOP be specific and don’t use generalized statement to put forth the ideas. Use examples and instances to bolster your claims. Don’t simply write that pursuing MIS will help me attune to global needs and become CIO of a company. Be specific and realistic about how some particular coursework can fill in the skill gap. We have seen several rejected candidates using flowery language without an iota of relevance in SOPs. Refrain from this.

Introspect yourself and brainstorm with your friends and professors to include:

A summary of your accomplishments first
Background information--people and events that influenced your decision
Learning experience(s) that serve as a foundation for your choice of career
Where you picked up first-hand information/experience about the field
Your own appraisal of yourself (strengths, weaknesses, uniqueness)

What are other ways to project your profile?

Use creativity to project your profile. One of our students Mihir Acharya got into WPI’s Robotics program where other students with better scores and academics were not able to secure admission. What did he do? He created a YouTube channel to showcase all his project work and included these links in his pre app emails and resumes. The creativity paid off when he got not only into WPI but also has scholarships from several prestigious universities.

We know how tempting it is to play the comparison game. But unfortunately, doing so won’t change anything or make you feel any better. The best thing you can do is try to be objective about how you could improve your candidacy if you reapply next year—or consider additional programs that might improve your odds.

I have tried to bring most practical reasons for rejections. I understand that not getting into Dream University can be painful but if you are re applicant for next year then this blog will surely help you to improve your chances.

About Skill Maestro

About the Author

How to apply for US F1 Visa

Stellar profiles but several rejects. What went wrong?