F1 Visa Interview Experiences

F1 Visa Experience – Lagos Nigeria

First, I want to thank happy school blog for all the help they rendered to me. But I was denied a visa. I had my visa interview on 26th july.

Here is the interview:

co: why are you going to US?

Me: To pursue my higher education in bacherlors of Chemistry program.

Co: which university?
Me: SMSU

CO: which univ do you apply?
Me: smsu, UF, UC.

Co: which university accepted you?
Me: SMSU and UF accepted me.

Co: why smsu?
Me: smsu have thesame instate tuition for all international students, which means that i will be paying thesame tuition with aminnesota resident. They also have…(he interrupted).

Co: what will you do with you degree?
Me: I will come back to Nigeria to work with the National agency for food and drug administration and control (NAFDAC).

Co: why don’t you want to do chemistry here in nigeria?
Me: because getting an international degree will provide more job opportunity for me, because many employers preffer an international degree, Especially this government agency NAFDAC.

Co: am sorry, i can’t issue a visa to you because of 214b. May be you can try next time, am sorry.

I thanked him and left, but i still don’t know what i did wrong, he didn’t see any of my documents except my I-20. I saw him rejecting everybody but i thought that mines will be different. Please what can i do.

I have a Job offer from a government agency here in Nigeria but the Co didn’t ask of any of the documents.

A visa agent adviced me to document the Job offer letter and mail it to the consulate office to show that i have a good proof that i will come back , so that they will go through it and then give me a call to come back for another interview.

But i never heard of that option before. Please is it advisible for me to do that? Or do I  simply have to schedule for another appointment.

If my only option is to schedule for another appointment, do i need to complete another DS-160 and pay for another visa since they didn’t give me back my Confirmation page and my visa fee receipt? Please what should i do so that i will be able to appear for another interview before my school resumes in August 15th. Thanks

Related : 3 Hour F1 Visa Interview in Chennai – Strange and Shaky

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11 Comments

  1. Hi everyone! Its nice to be here and share experiences.
    My visa was rejected on 3 August this year in yaounde under section 214b. I am a Cameroonian.
    I got admitted into Columbia college in order to study Biology but due to my low score on the listening section of the TOEFL, I had to do an English for academic purpose program once I get to the school before starting with my biology major I chooses.
    When I received my I 20 form, instead of seeing biology as my program of study, I saw English . I didn’t bother, thought it was OK if the school put it that way.
    So when my turn came for the interview , there was this officer who rejected almost everyone. Unfortunately, he interviewed me. He took my documents and asked me what I was going to study, I got a little confused if it was English or biology? So I said that I was going to start studying English. Then he asked why? I said due to my low score on the listening section of the TOEFL.
    Then he asked me if I was a native speaker of English. Didn’t understand ” native speaker ” , so i said yes since I have been schooling in English all my life though born into a francophone family.
    He denied the visa and said it was a waste of time going to do English if I already know it. That’s my story. I told the admission counselor about it and she asked me to take a new TOEFL, she was going to make me a new I 20 form.
    Please I need your help to ace the next interview.
    Thanks.

  2. I would suggest you mention two other schools which are not as good as the one you got admitted to, say that u were admitted there, but make sure you give good academic reasons for refusing those schools, like saying the one you were admitted to has higher ranked professors in your field of interest who you can learn alot from… Just say sometin relating to their research you are interested in…

  3. Helo guys, myyy interview is 10dayys away at Abuja consular. I only applied to one university in usa. Should I jst tell the VO that I only applied to one uni or shld I make up 2 other uni and claim I wasn’t given admission?

  4. Going through the american embassy expecially for F1 visa takes the glory of almighty God. its unpredictable………

  5. …..please reapply for another interview ASAP, as long as your I-20 is still valid, and most importantly pay a lot of attention while preparing and at the interview itself about your responses to VO, they just have to be convinced that is all! Express you passion about studying a particular discipline, and draw the VO attention to the kind of research in the school that made you opt for it as a choice of university rather than on the cost. You should pull through the this time. Be confident, not arrogant, and maintain eye contact steady. Good luck!!

  6. Dear Sir/Madam,

    Nana kwasi Kwateng is my name, a citizen of the republic of Ghana.Please words could indeed not express my excitement and ecstasy when i came across your useful website a couple of days ago.

    Sir/Madam, the fact of the matter is, on the 7th of January,2011 I was denied an F-1 visa without any reason made know to me by the Visa Officer .But i was given a refusal sheet which stated in some part of it that an appeal can be made only when my previous situation has been changed.

    On the grounds of this, in order not to be refused an F-1 visa for the second time.I would plead with you for Christ sake to help me with any useful tips which pertains to a successful acquisition of an f-1 visa after being rejected the first time.

    Hope to hear from you soon.i count on your usual cooperation.

    Yours faithfully,

    P.S

    Please I also heard a rumor that once a student has been rejected an F-1 visa for the first attempt, the chance of getting it for the second time is very slim.If so,please how possible?
    I would like to know the truth in this rumor.

  7. hi,im preparing for visa interview which’ll come up next week.im studying INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS at troy university.i need advice on the kind of job that’ll feat my proposed course inother for me to have a better point.thks,expecting replies soon

  8. sq115, I absolutely agree with Ur comment, because as a student, your priority should not be tuition fees especially when U re faced with a VO for an F1 Visa interview, U should hit your reasons more on the academic aspects and impacts on your future rather than giving him the impression that you are more interested in the financial aspects, so I think you should request for an I-20 from Univ. of Florida and schedule another appointment or you can as well go back with your SMSU but with a better REASON this time rather than your initial reason

  9. First of all, chill and don’t get upset. Book another Visa Interview Appointment.

    1) Yes you have to fill up the DS-160 form again and also pay your visa fees again

    2) It helps your case strongly when you apply to go to a university with a good reputation. However reputation alone isn’t going to suffice, you need to be sure yourself as to why the chosen university is the one you want to go to. Fees could be a reason. But mentioning that as a primary reason could make the VO wonder about why you are choosing a very average university with a low fees – is it to somehow make it to the US? You have to convince the VO that the university is offering you good opportunities for research, learning etc from faculty who are renowned and/or are researching areas which you are interested in.

  10. UF as in University of Florida right? You got admission in UF, and you chose SMSU, for chemistry. Let’s clear some things up. UF is a top public institution with a very good chemistry department. Instead of going to the best university you got admitted into, you opted for a very low ranked regional university, and the reason you gave was the tuition fees. A good student doesn’t do that, ever. You’ll get rejected straight away if the best reason for you to pick a university was because of low tuition fees, and furthermore when you already have admission into another university which is leagues ahead of the one you opted for.

    If you can, I’d advice you to get an I-20 from UF, if you don’t have it already, and opt to go there, because frankly speaking, if you go through this same interview and say the same things again, you’ll get rejected. If they ask you again, why SMSU, and if you have nothing else to say other than the low tuition fee reason, you’ll get rejected again.

  11. hiii…
    Schedule fr an another appoinment. Nthis time carry ur offer letter with u….!!!!
    when asked abt why this University…? U must answer it in subject oriented form like u are interested in research work going on over thre n u have particularly selected this univ bcoz the course work matches with ur interest of subjects….!!!!! n tell him abt the research work gng on n try explaining abt him… I think he’ll b impressed by listening to this n may think tht u have carried enough info reg the univ….!!!
    !!

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