F1 Visa Interview Experiences

F1 Visa Approved in Dhaka US Embassy; VO was Pretty Snappy

Shared via Email.

I had my F1 visa interview on 20th July. Well like everyone around, i was nervous like hell.

I went to each and everyone of the visa interviews that is on this blog.

But in the end the interview turned out quite well. I was inside for about a couple of minutes. Even before i could open my file my got the visa.

F1 Visa Interview at Dhaka

My interview time was at 10:30 am, so i arrived at the US Embassy Dhaka around 10am.

The waiting part was terrible. The room was full of DV applicants.

Kids running around & crying at places. Not a very good situation to keep your head cool.

I was called at around 11am for fingerprint. I noticed all of the non-immigrant visa applicants were called at window 3.

The visa officer inside was a lady. She was pretty snappy. Even before the applicant could go in she was shooting questions at them. “Sir, Why do you want to go to the United States of America.”

Rejection at her window was pretty high. Infront of me she rejected a couple of students.

1 of which was a AA degree seeker. I was going for AA as well at State University of New York, Nassau Community College, my major Media.

Seeing all these i lost all hope of ever getting a visa. But i kept on praying to Allah & asked to make the interview as easy as possible & Allah heard my prayers.

I was called to a different window. This is what went in my interview

F1 Visa Interview

VO: Hey Good morning, how are you doing ?
Me: I am good, What about you ?? ( i fumbled, not a good way to start )
but soon i regained my senses & took control of the situation.

VO: ( looking at me with a smile, while going through the xerox of my I-20 which i submitted earier ) Which college are you going to ?
Me: Nassau Community College, State University of New York.

VO: How did you find out about NCC ?
Me: I ran a search on collegeboard.com & later asked my high school to look into it & they said its a great college.

VO: What are you going to study at NCC ?
Me: Media

VO: Why media ?
Me: Bangladesh’s Media industry is going through a boom. Bangladesh currently has 19 channels. 3 more are on test air & 5 more on the process of acquiring a license. 5 out of the 19 channels was established in the year 2010. But amount of skilled labors in this field is at all times low. So after getting a degree from NCC, i’ll have a high prospective of getting a high salary job.

At this point he was typing loads on his computer, so i thought of being more friendly with him and asked ” Do stand the whole day while you are interviewing ? ” VO had a big smile & said ” Not really, i sit around & be lazy the whole day, its just because of you i came up & is standing & its all good 🙂 ”

VO: So who is going to sponsor your education ?
Me: My dad.

VO: What does he do ?
Me: Said & wanted to show him the affidavit of support, but he said it was not necessary, he does not want to see any documents & i can chill . ( got more confident after this point ) Then i added ” i have 2years of education expense in cash, ready at my hand. ”

VO: with a smile of assurance & not even asking the amount of money i am talking about or my dad’s monthly or annual income. ” When did u graduate ? ”
Me: 2009

VO: What have you been doing since then ?
Me: I was tired after 12 years of high school education, so i needed a break. And i wanted to experiment with myself before i go and join college, as college is very imp & to me its very very imp that i score the top scores in whatever major i am doing.

VO: Did you work ?
Me: well no, but i was with a social organisation which was formed by me & friends called Privilege. Our job in this organisation is to sponsor under privileged children up to at least high school graduation. We did this by asking our family & relatives to pay for tuition, books, dress & other expenses for one specific child.

VO: aha, nice . So what about the rest of you class mates, did they go for college directly after graduation or did they wait like you ?

Me: well some of them went to college straight away & there were others who like me wanted to experiment before they make any decision .

VO: okay, so you were abroad recently, which country was it ? ( trying to find the visa in my passport )
Me: taking out my other passport which had the visa, but VO stopped and asked said that answering him will be good enough, no need to bring out any papers or the passport or anything else. so i said ” Malaysia ”

VO: why did you go to Malaysia?
ME: For vacation & mainly for partying & clubbing, since in Bangladesh its quite tough to find a place where you can jump around & throw your hand up.

VO: with a big smile, SO true, so true
ME: Exactly, so i just wanted some quality time with my friends.

VO: Do you have any relative in US ?
ME: NO

VO: Do dont have any relative in there ?
ME: No sir, nothing next to keen

VO: Then whom do you have in there ?
Me: My mom’s 1st cousine.

VO: Where do they live ?
Me: said

VO: And where will you be living ?
Me: I’ll be living with them.

VO: Have you ever applied for a visa for US ?
Me: NO

After this he took a good look at my passport & went way with it
HE returned after a while
& handed me a token & said
” You Visa has been approved, please come on this day and collect your passport.”
I was so happy & had such a big smile in my face that i could hardly say anything.

So wished him a good day & left.

My passport was scheduled for pickup on 24th & At this moment i am holding the passport in my hand. Would be leaving for NYC on 5th

US F1 Visa interview is all about confidence & attitude.  If you have an accent its a+, I have an american accent and i would say that kept the VO from checking my papers. cause he felt like he was talking with someone of his own.
If you don’t have an accent don’t fake it.

Do a lot of research on your field of study & college.

Since i did the whole application process, from college selection to visa application by myself i had a proper knowledge of what was going around. I would suggest you do the same.

Last & the most important thing, have faith on Allah. Nothing goes on without his wish & without his command you cannot do anything.

Please wish me luck for my studies.

Thanks for Happy School Blog. Learned tons & loads form this website.

Related : FSU for MS Computational Science for Fall 2012 – F1 Visa Experience

Similar Posts

12 Comments

  1. Good Luck Brother and really sounds nice specially for “Last & the most important thing, have faith on Allah. Nothing goes on without his wish & without his command you cannot do anything.”

  2. I feel god has nothing to do on visa sanction cause many who do not believe in god also get visa. Many who prayed 1000 times also do not get visa sanctioned. Hence, belief in god or religion deos n’t have a relationship with the outcome of the events.

  3. Thanks everyone

    I am really having a good time here in US.
    VO are usually friendly if you can give them the chance, 1 mistake and they’ll attack you with their full arsenal. CONFIDENCE is the key.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *