F1 VISA Interview

The thing that keeps hunting all students admitted in the US Universities, is the F1 Visa interview.
This blog is about my Visa interview experience, and a few tips derived from my experience.

I had my Visa interview at the mumbai consulate on the 5th of july 2007, at 7:45 am. I had an admit to UCLA for a MS in EE, and had partial funding in the form of RA ships for the first two quarters.

The preparation for the Visa interview took me almost a month. Guess the most gruelling part of the VISA preparation is getting the proofs for your finances in place.

You are supposed to get an affidavit from your sponsors stating that they are willing and able to fund your education in the US. In my case, I was showing a joint sponsorship from my dad and uncle. Since my uncle stayed in a different city the affidavit had to back and forth by courier for signatures.

Bank passbooks are sufficient as a proof, for your bank balances and a bank statement might be redundant if you are carrying the passbook. However, if you do not have a passbook, you would have to go to the bank and get a bank statement issued, along with the record of your transactions. I had carried the list of transactions for the last six months. (I guess it is not a problem even if you do not show transactions for all six months)

You would need to carry the original FD receipts, LIC policies, PF statements etc. Further, get the salary statements of your sponsors and yourself (if applicable).

As far as non financial documents are concerned, get the original mark sheets, degree certificates, GRE and TOEFL score reports. If you have any special merit certificates be sure to take them along. The "harmonium folder" as it is called, is quite convenient since it allows you to go to the appropriate label and pull of the document much faster than a plastic file. More often than not, you would be carrying a whole bunch of documents to the interview and this folder comes in handy.

At the Mumbai Consulate, you need to submit the DS forms and a copy of the I-20 three days in advance at the VFS application centre. These forms are not accepted by courier and have to be handed over personally. However, you can ask some relative / friend to do it for you. There are no questions asked during this submission, so you need not plan a travel to Mumbai just for the sake of submitting these documents. During submission you would be asked for a lounge facility. If you are an outstation candidate, you might want to take this service.

So, coming back to my interview experience - I was put up at Kolaba. I managed to reach the consulate by 7.15 am. I had availed the lounge facility. To get in you need to show the interview appointment letter and the coupon that was issued when you booked the lounge facility. You would be asked to go into the locker room. You can deposit your bag here. Cellphones and any other electronic equipment is to be switched off and kept in the bag. You are also not allowed to carry any glue stick / stapler. All such things go into the bag which you would keep at the locker. You are allowed to carry a wallet.

I came out of the locker room and wanted to go to the lounge to have some snacks. But it was around 7.25 then, and they had already given instructions to candidates for the 7.45 interview slot, to board the bus. This bus (has a US flag painted on it) takes you from the VFS center to the consulate, which is a short distance from the VFS center.

At the consulate you have to stand in a queue. There are separate queues for immigrant and non - immigrant Visas. The immigrant queue consists of a lot of gujjus. Many of them did not seem to know english well and I was wondering how they would manage after immigrating to the US. At the entry of the consulate you need to show your passport, appointment letter and the I-20.

Inside, there is a security check, where you are frisked and passed through a metal detector. You need to remove your belt and wallet at the security check. These are given back to you when you pass through the detector. Then, you go in and join another queue. Here you hand over you passport, I-20 and the appointment letter. That guy checks the time on the appointment letter and throws it into a bin! He would then give you your DS forms (submitted earlier), and a pink token. He packs all that material up in a folder. Let it stay arranged the way it is, else all those important documents can get messed up. And yes, he also gives you a small wooden stick, which you need to return back after the interview. You don't use the wooden stick anywhere, but I guess it is means by which they keep a check on the number of candidates inside the consulate.

Now you have the folder, the small wooden stick and the pink slip with you, along with your harmonium folder of course. You would now join another queue for fingerprinting. The guy across the counter would ask you to put your index finger on the scanner. He would take away all the documents from you, and you would now have only the pink slip, wooden stick and the harmonium folder.

You now have to wait in the hall and await the announcement of your token number. The announcements are quite clear, but you better be alert! After your announcement is made, you just need to rush to the corresponding counter and form a queue. Remember that there is no order either in calling out of the token number, or the queue that you form outside the interview booth.

So, I did all of this and joined the queue, I was second in the queue. The guy in front of me was quizzed for some time and he came out smiling and without a passport.

I entered the interview booth. This guy looked like a desi, but had a clear American accent. This is how the conversation went:

VO: give me the pink slip
Me: Good morning .. (handing over the pink slip)

He did not give any reaction at all.. So, I thought may be he is in for grilling me..
Meanwhile he takes a look at my DS form..

VO: So, you have partial funding from the university.
Me: Yes sir, I have a RA ship for the fall and winter quarters. I also have a RA ship for the summer quarter, but that amount does not reflect on to the i-20
VO: and.. you are working with Qualcomm?
Me: Yes sir
VO: So, what was your project at Qualcomm?
Me: I worked with memory BIST blah.. blah.. ( he was not listening to me and was typing something on his computer)
VO: (interrupting my explanation of my work..) So, did you develop any application for QA?
Me: Well, I did develop some methodologies for verifying the memory BIST functionality.
VO: So, what is the end product of your work?
Me: It is a chip which goes into cell phones.
VO: Ok. Your Visa is approved. The passport will reach you in three working days.

Thats it.. no queries on finances. I did not take out a single document from the harmonium folder.

The VISA interview was too easy.. and I felt as if all that running around preparation all documents was a waste. But, I might have been lucky. You HAVE to carry every thing with you.
So, go prepared and all the best.
Do, contact me if you have any further questions.