USA Student Visa Application

I have reached the stage for applying for my USA student visa. If you are from this part of the world you know how challenging it is to get a student visa. I have heard of so many horror stories of guys not getting their visas and since I don't want to be included in that long list of disappointments. I am going to prepares for the interview as best I can. Sadly there aren't much resources on the net to help out people in my situation. I got lucky and found this piece of information that I decided that I am going to share with you. Just in case there is someone else who is in my situation.

 
The first thing you should do is be brief. The consular officers are under considerable pressure to conduct a quick and efficient interview and there are so many applicants to be seen. Apparently they only allow interviews to run for two to three minutes, which kind of sucks because of all the preparations that has been put into place, so you don't want to make his or her job harder by wasting time. You should keep your answers short and specific, ironically when I get nervous I tend to ramble on and on so I will need help on this.

 
Another thing that you should be able to show are ties to your home countries. You should illustrate to the consular officer that you aren't going to stay in the US for eternity but you plan on getting back home after your education. This is very important because in the USA they have this mad influx of immigrants and you aren't there to make it worse. You should show ties that bind you to your home country like place residence, family, financial prospects that you own or inherit, investments etc. you will be asked about your specific intentions or promise of future employment and career prospects in your home country. Basically you should show how your education will help you back home.

 
This is not a big thing to me but to others it could be a problem, the interview will be held in English. If English is not your native language it will be beneficial if you are to practise your English with a native speaker. If your home country doesn't speak English you will need to explain why it is important in your home country.

 
You should be familiar with the academic program and how it fits into your career plans. This took me by surprise because I didn't think they would ask this. You should be able to explain how studying in the US relates to your future professional career, focusing on how the skills learnt will help you when you return home.

 
The other thing which you should have are all your supporting documents. You need to have your i-20, school acceptance letter; financial documents and all your education transcripts or certificates. This may be trivial to some people but you could find yourself at the interview and you have forgotten one piece of paper which could be detrimental to your interview. Dealing with financial documents, you must show how you will be able to pay for the education and also have enough money to live on. If you have received any scholarships make sure you inform the consular guy to help sway his decision your way.

 
If you have a spouse or dependents, you should be able to explain how they will be able to live with you while you are there in the US. If the spouse is going to have an F2 visa or J2 they aren't allowed to work while they will be staying in the US, so you should be able to have answers as to what they will be doing while they are over there. If you are going to leave your dependents back home, you should also show how they will support themselves when you have left. If the consular dude gets the impression that your family members will need you to send money from the US in order to support them, your visa will be denied.

 
The last thing I will say on the matter is that the school that you are applying to matters a lot. If you chose to go to an average school in the US it will affect your chances of you getting a visa. On the other hand if you chose to go to a solid school lets the Ivy League ones or the ones top in your field your chances of getting your visas are improved. In my case I don't have to worry about that coz the school am going to has a great track record and it's well-known. Go Simon.

 
After going through the advice given it is important to note that not all countries are the same. Coming from third world countries it's more of a challenge getting student visas as you are seen as an economic refugee, but at the same time students are still being granted visas. You should prepare as much as possible. You shouldn't worry too much about the visa interview, what will happen will happen.

 
Do you have any tips for me and other students going for our visa interview?