How to approach a VISA Interview(F1)
Hello,
Just a few days before I completed my VISA interview and got my visa approved. The following text will be for F1 visa applications ie. Those going to study abroad.
First and foremost, make sure that you have all documents necessary for the visa interview. These are the documents necessary:
1. HDFC Bank Receipt
2. DS160 Form Confirmation
3. Old + New passport
4. Course Completion Certificate
5. SEVIS Fees receipt
6. VISA appointment letter
7. i20 document
8. GRE + TOEFL Original Marksheets
9. College Marksheets original
10. Financial Documents
a. Proof of finances for two years - Liquid cash for first year, assets for 2nd year
b. Audit of all your properties - To prove to the officer that you have so much property in India and you’ll surely NOT stay there in US permanently.
c. Property Tax + Water Tax - To say that the house belongs to you and you have been living there for long
d. Affidavit of Support - The person who is funding(parents or relatives or friends) you must give this affidavit. It legally claims that their money is available for you to use for your studies. This should be in a STAMP paper and notarized by a lawyer.
11. 10th std + 12th Std marksheets original
12. Birth Certificate - To prove that you are taking the visa interview at the location thats same as in your birth certificate
13. Visa Photo - The same photos as you gave for DS 160 form
Take all the documents in a file. Take a pen with you. Put them inside a plastic cover and take to the consulate. They won’t allow anything other than this plastic bag into the consulate. Cell phones and any other electronic equipments are banned inside the consulate. Wear a very decent formal dress(shirt+pant+shoes) to the interview. Go half hour in advance and stand in the queue outside the consulate. When your turn comes, you have to hand over the passport and visa appointment letter at the gate. They’ll check your appointment letter and let you in.
Inside, they’ll do a security check and let you inside another room. There, you’ll be asked to go to a counter where your finger prints will be taken. The person in the counter will ask for HDFC Receipt, I20, Appointment letter, DS160, SEVIS Receipt, passport and course completion certificate and put it into a file and give you. You’ll then have to wait in another queue for your interview.
The interviewer is generally very pleasant. They’ll ask you a few questions and depending on the answers they’ll give you visa. Here there are a few catches.
1. To prove the you’re a non immigrant, you need to show that you have so much of assets with me and I have to come back to India to take care of them. You can also say stuffs like I am the only son to my parents, my parents are ill and have to take care of them and other emotional reasons too. But assets are most important. DON’T EVER LEAVE A WORD ABOUT YOUR RELATIVES LIVING ABROAD. If you say my sister lives abroad, then they’ll consider you’re an immigrant and will REJECT your visa. You can NEVER get a visa after that in your life 
2. Technology Alert List(TAL) : This is a list issued by US Government. It has a list of branches of study that a potential terrorist will learn. These include most of the common branches like Cryptography, Computer Vision, VLSI etc. Therefore its imperative for you NOT to UTTER a word from this list. Here’s the list http://www.bu.edu/isso/forms/tal.pdf
3. Financial Support: You have to show sufficient funds to spend there for 2 years. In case your department funds you, then there’s no problem. Or you have to show liquid funds(Bank account, FD, RD, Shares, Mutual Funds, Provident Fund, Superannuation) for first year expenses and assets for second year expenses. The per year expense is mentioned in your I20 document.
If you satisfy these three requirements, you’ll get a visa. We’ll generally satisfy first and third. But the 2nd requirement is the biggest problem. If you don’t satisfy first and second requirement, your visa will be REJECTED. If you don’t satisfy the 2nd requirement you’ll get a PINK SLIP. By a pink slip they mean that the visa interviewer does not understand the technical terms that you said and therefore putting you on a background check. http://chennai.usconsulate.gov/pendingprocessing.html Check this site for further information about this procedure. They’ll give you a questionnarie and you’ve to fill it. Fill it as though you’re writing to a expert in that area. Also give your resume. When filling the questionnaire and the resume, make sure that you avoid or minimize usage of TAL words. You’ve to submit to the consulate and they’ll take 4 weeks max to give their result. You’ll mostly be admitted after this process unless you’re seriously a terrorist!! There are a lot of frequently asked questions in the visa interview. Prepare answers for them and mug them if needed. Make sure your answers strictly adhere to the above 3 conditions. A comprehensive list of visa interview questions is available at the end of this post. READ IT FULLY.
This is the transcript of my visa interview. Have a look at it to see how to avoid TAL words.
She(interviewer): Did you do any internship at your college?
Me: I did an internship at IIT Delhi.
She: What did you work on?
Me: I worked on Computer Graphics (actually I worked on Computer Vision in my intern. But Computer Vision is sort of in the TAL. Therefore I changed it to graphics when I told)
She: How are you going to fund your study?
Me: Total amount for 2years = $100,000, $40,000 comes from loan, rest from my father’s funds.
She: Where is your father working?
Me: BASF Ind Ltd
She: What does that company do?
Me: They do textiles (actually my father’s company supplies chemicals for textiles. But I said just textiles in order to avoid the TAL word “chemical”. Had I said chemical I would have been given a pink slip)
She: I’m giving you a visa. All the best 
Make sure you prepare enough for the interview. A little carefulness could help you avoid getting a pink slip. Generally they won’t REJECT a visa unless you say something that makes them think that you are an immigrant. A pink slip is processed quickly and on an average you’ll get your visa approved in 2-3 weeks. ALL THE BEST
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Important VISA questions (I have not written these. I got it from my friend)
- where are you heading to ?
- why do you want to go to USA ?
- why that specific university ?
- whats u r major/area of intrest ?
- Whats u r undergrad college ?
- whats u r % of marks ?
- Is that distinction in u r university ?
- whatz toefl score ?
- whats u r gre score ?
- who is funding u r education ?
- what is he(sponser) doing ?
- whats his annual income ? ( better that be above annual liviing expenses )
- how does he plan to fund you ? ( if annual income < total expenses :: Say from savings)
- do you have any siblings ?
- what does they(siblings) do ? r they married ?
- do you plan to study Phd after MS ?
- do you intend to work after MS in US ?
- do you plan to study while u r working ?
- do you intend to come back after your studies ?
- why would you return back to india ?
- U r a student from CS and have good credentials why would you return back to india ?
- for what is u r Univ famous for ?
- who are famous people from u r Univ ?
- who are famous people from state of u r univ ?
- for what is the state of u r univ famous for ?
- do you know any one from US ?
- do you know any one from u r Univ ?
- have you contacted any professors in ur univ ?
- have you got any aid from u r Univ ?
- what is annual expenses of your course ?
- how long do you intend to say in US ?
- whats the duration of your course ?
- what are sources of your finance ? ( Byheart CA stmt. )
- do you own a car ? ( 34-37 are just intended to test whether u r lying by cross questioning , even if you lie , LIE cofidently )
- what is its Number , model , yer of purchase ?
- do you own a two wheeler ?
- what is its Number , model , yer of purchase ?
Tips and Tricks
- Even if you have younger sister/brother , say u have elder brother/sister and he/she is married and he/husband of sis is working in INDIA.
- even if you know any one residing in US say you know none in US.
- even if you have not contacted any professors say you have contacted.
- learn abt research areas in our major at your university.
- Be confident and positive throughout .
- dont contradict your previous answer in u r next answer.
- even if grace period is mentioned in u r I20 say duration of corse in 2 years however you get visa for 5 years.
- byheart CA stmt b4 going to consulate
- write u r name address phone no passport no at back of DDs
- sign both i20’s b4 going to consulate
- Be relaxed and dont show that u r desperate to go to us
- Avoid going to American Negro looks like a muslim lady dresses in black, chances of visa if you go to her 10% , approx interview time : 30 mts ( She will not just reject you , she will also convince you that your going to US is waste and better u stay in INDIA )
- You can go to bald head french beard guy , drills but finally gives VISA , chances of visa if you go to him 75% , approx interview time : 30 mts
- You can go to non-bald head, french beard guy , gives VISA easily , chances of visa if you go to him 95% , approx interview time : 3-5 mts
- You can go to 6′2″ guy , young , lean guy ( clue he always stands ) , gives VISA easily , chances of visa if you go to him 95% , approx interview time : 3 mts
- Clue to change Q if you get in to nancy’s line : wait for few mts. in line then slip out of Q for water placing u r docs in near by chair and return back after few mts. and join Q of u r choice. (trusted method followed by my friend)
- avoid calling the officers Sir as they are vexed and irritated listening to those.
- avoid saying pardon , come again , i didnt get you , Just say something expecting question based on document in his hand . They get irritated when you say pardon , come again , i didnt get you , If you guessed wrong question he will question you again.
- Watch the lips of the person while you are at counter as you will not able to listen to them cause of bad quality of speakers, you can atleast guess question from lip movements , at worst you can atleast understand he is asking you something.
- dont give more information than needed or asked by them.
- answer only to question , do not try to justify u r answer unless asked.
- do not let u r answers contradict values from your Statements
- keep toefl score card folded if u r GRE verbal is better than Toefl score.
- keep a summary statement highlighting u r academics and scores if you have gr8 scores and academic credentials.