My F1 Visa experience

Consulate: Chennai

Atmosphere

Personally i wansn't that much tensed. The atmosphere is very relaxing. At the VFS website, they asked us to be there 15 minutes before. That must be fine. There were people whose interview was at 8 and they turned up at 8.30 and the like and yet they were casually called in. So no worries. Theres a lavish rest room also.The exact scene of you talkin t to the interviewer can be compared to that of a you having a talk with the cashier in bank. It is exactly the same way. A glass window separates you both with Space below to send in documents.

Documents

At the entrance of the consulate you have to show your Interview letter & passport. So keep them a lil' aside.

Before the interview, your "Primary documents" will be taken from you. They will be checked and put in a different file which you  gottu hand t to interviewer during the interview. In my case, apart from these documents, i DIDNT show them any other document. Had carried in a harmonium file, with names of the documents written in the space given for easier access. BTW the primary documents include

a) Interview letter b) Passport c) I20 d) Sevis fee reciept e) Confirmation letter  f) Gre & toefl original score cards g) Degree certificate

People

The gaurds and officials there will take of everything. They will periodically be calling out the slots. Any issues you can report to them. They will keep guiding you to respective counters, just follw them. The ones at the counter will have a mic with them; they will be very clear and audible. When they take your primary documents, they will ask for finger scan. Please see to that there are no cuts or burns.

Interviewers

Damn nice people. So please greet them with a smile. I was observing the entire process for like more than a hour and realised they are so understandin and never want to reject an application. All they need is answers to their questions. There were students/people who would aswer so senselesly and yet the interviewers would ask them upto 3 times to get the exact answer they want. There are interviewers who are laughin and talkin to students/family like good old friends. I did see 3/4 rejections too. The interviewees couldn convince them, so they were rejected.

My interview

My interview was at 8 am. I went there by 7.15 and there was a long queue. I thought it will be very much on time and stuff. It was very organised though but my interview was at 9:15 am. At 8 am they took us to the other building and made us wait there. Even though i had a DD for 9$, they asked me to pay cash. I carried Rs 500 which was very helpful. I was only asked 

1. Why Binghamton?
2. Where did you do your bachelors?
3. What did you do since 2009? {She was completely impressed by my answer.}
4. How much is your parents savings?

At last she said "Your visa is issued madam. Please continue your good work there too. All the very best for your course." I was beaming. :)

P.S: Every one's experience is different. Don't just rely on one.

You can see my other iterviews as well here: F1 Visa interview & H1B Visa interview & H4 Visa interview. 

F1 Visa Questions & Suitable Answers

Trust me other than the following 21 Questions, they cant  ask anything more. But yes they can be Rephrased! Firstly the interviewer will be busy updating your information in her/his records. Secondly its just a max 2 minutes interview {mite increase if & only if you are unable to comprehend what he/she is saying i.e more of "Excuse me" or "Pardon me" or "Come again"} :)

Questions:

1. Why are you going to US?
2. Why US & not India?
3. Why not IIT?
4. Why xxx university only?
5. How many university's did you apply to? How many accepts & How many rejects?
6. Why xxx specialization? Whats its scope in India?
7. What was major in Bachelors?
8. What were your grades in Bachelors?
9. Tell about your project.
10. Schooling?
11. Gre & Toefl Scores.
12. What did you do since you graduated?
13. Would you work on/off campus?
14. Wont recession affect you?
15. Who's sponsering you?
16. What are you parents? Their Income?? Their Savings?
17. I see recent transactions in the bank certificate, how would you explain?
18. If you utilise all their money, how would they run the family?
19. How many siblings? Is there sufficient funds for them?
20. What are your plans after masters?
21. Where would you want to work in future? Where do you see yourself after 5 years? What salary do you expect?

Answers :

1. To pursue masters in xxx in xxx university.
2. a) International Exposure b) Flexibility(can complete a course in 15-18 months) c) Pratical approach d)Advanced Technology
3. IIT is excellent, but its intake is around 100 for 20/30000 students who write. Plus my interest is in xxx University.
4. a) Rank of the university chosen (Courtesy: USNews) b) Seniors gave excellent feedback c) My area of interest is found here  d) Professor MrABC has done amazing research in field i want.
5. You need not tell complete truth. If u have more rejects, put it across as "waitin"/"on hold".  
6. You gottu surf about your interest. Tell its scope in US, India its advancements and one/two applications.
7. Your turn.
8. Here we use a % system i.e its calucated for 100. My % is blah blah.
9. Use technical jargons That will work :)
10. Your turn.
11. Tell truth. If they are less use the standard answer " I made mistake in the first 10 questions which are very crucial and carry high score. Hence i got less. Future i will take care i wont mess up."
12. {This question changed the entire course of my interview}Its ur say. Better to carry certificates as proof for the work/course you have done.
13. A definite NO. I want to study hard and complete my masters soon.
14. I am going to enhance my technical knowledge and skills. It is no where realated to recession.
15. My blah, blah and an education loan are sponsoring me.
16. Your turn.
17. My blah blah had invested money in other accounts and also lent them to needy friends and relatives. Now for the purpose of my education he has pooled them into this account.
18. My course needs x lakhs. My loan covers x-n lakhs. My blah blah hav the savings which is more than n lakhs. Hence its sufficient for them.
19. Your turn. If you have you could say, he/she is interested in working. If he/she changes plans after working for 2/3 years, by then i would hav started repayin the loan so it wont be a problem for him/her.
20. Return to India and work in the company of my choice which has xxx specialization.
21. Your turn. tell a salary which is more than the EMI you gottu return to bank

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TIP:

• "Smile" is the mantra!
• Try explaining in points than long sentences.
• Answer to point. An Extra word will lead to a new thread of questions. 
• While talkin abt money talk in terms of indian money than dollars.
•  Remenber the interviewer is an American, they wont be familiar with Indian terms. "% --> gpa", "puc --> preuniversity", "Btech/BE --> Bachelors" etc.
• Write down the exact answers & read them once o twice. It will definitely help you.
• All the best. ;)

You can see my iterviews as well here: F1 Visa interview & H1B Visa interview & H4 Visa interview. 

F1 Visa Help Forums

Few edulix forums which might help u:

1. Consolidated Information reg Visa application
2. Visa Preparation
3. Visa Questions
4. Mistakes done at a Visa Interview
5. VI Thread - list of Experiences

Personally i got all my answers here! ATB 2 u!

Visa Booking..!

This is how i went through:

Home page where u can find all the below ones mentioned: https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/index.html 

Step wise, here below:

Step 1: Pay the SEVIS fee here.

Step 2: Check ur consulate district here.

Step 3: Check the photo requirements here. If you go to GK Vale, they will know all the requirements.

Step 4: DS160 is available here. If doesn't open in one browser then try another browser! It works!

Step 5: Check for the earliest visa dates here!

Step 6: Book visa dates!

Tip: DS160 is set of 8 pages. Keep all the information ready & keep saving your account. It will time out after 20 mins.