UK Visa Experience : general visitor

Finally a visa center in Bangalore. Yay! Experience was pretty ok though. A lil' unorganized & confusing. Got my visa in 10 days.

I applied for family visitor but the lady at the counter said i qualify for a general visitor. Duh.. apparently my husbands sister isn't my family she said; as we are not related by blood. Whateva!!

Documents:

1. Appt confirmation letter
2. Complete Application
3. 2 UK size passports (I got them at GK Vale. They charged Rs 130 and they new the dimensions/measument etc)
4. Passport copy
5. Visa copy
6. Letter from family/work inviting you
7. Employer letter
8. Trip itenary
9. Wedding certificate
10. Bank statements
11. W2 (tax forms)
12. Fee payment (About Rs 8000)
13. Travel consent for babies/kids

Numbers are counters. Alphabets is the path. A to G is the order.

Appointment:
Arrive 10 minutes before the appointment. They will check all your bags & send you in. You enter into this long hall at (A). You are given a seat (B). A lady/sir who's at the door randomly picks you and directs you to counter 8/9/10 (C). Here you show the application & the confirmation page and your passport. If there's anything missing or anything else needed they send you back. After this you are asked to seat a lil' farther in the room (D). They call you to counters 1/2/3/4/5/6. Here the actual interview takes place (E). But its Indians taking interview unlike US visas. Here the documents are handed over and they ask few questions. They taken in all documents and do not promise the issuance of visa. They ask money for sms alerts (Rs 125) & courier services (Rs 300). Sms alerts were useless i felt. Then you are sent to counter 11/12 for finger printing (F). The entire process takes about 45 mins plus. You exit at (G).


Tips:

• Really no use arriving too early. 10 minutes is perfect.
• Carry cash. 
• There's a cyber nearby (i heard) and a xerox machine in the same building only (Rs 2 per xerox)
• They themselves have less knowledge i felt so be patient.
• They have fast track visa which they give in 4 days. Charge is Rs 12000. If you give Rs 2500, then they will fasten your process in this room as well. So instead of all the counters, you just have to visit counter 13. :) (Money making techniques)
• All the best.

H4 Visa Interview

Hello all. Basically if you are seeing this I'm assuming you are looking for H4 visa information. I'm a candidate who has a H1 prior to H4 so i heard mine should be easy. Most of the background is same as the other visas. The three below links will help you with the start.

DS160
Payment info
Schedule Appt

Day 1: Finger printing @ Chennai consulate
Just the dS160 confirmation page and appt sheet and passport are required. Please be here only 10 minutes prior to appt. The inside job is max 30 mins. Mine was done in 15 mins.

Day 2: Visa interview @ Chennai consulate

After finger printing, most of the back ground check is done and they almost know whether you are a clean candidate or no. Early morning slots are best. Mine was done in 10 minutes. Actually my interview was at 9:30 and i went at 9 am. I was out by 9:35. No sealed envelopes please. My interview went fine. They try and ask and see if your spouse is in a valid visa & company. Nothing much else.

He: Hello
Me: GM!!
He: Colorful file eh?
Me: Yes!
He: Where does your husband work?
Me: Blah blah.
He:Who worked in blah blah?
Me: That was me. Now i need H4.
He: You have many visas i will be cancelling others and be giving you H4.
Me:ok. Thanks. Good day!

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

My H1 B Visa interview

I really do not know the need of penning these interview experiences. But hope its helps some innocent lives :) This one was almost same like the last interview :) However the documents here were different. Not to forget the 2 day interview process was a lil' pain but no worries.. its all fine as along as you answer to point with a smile.

Please know what documents you carry. They are capable of asking anything, and it shouldn't be odd if you are searching for it. So please memorize it. I had labelled them to be safe. :) 

We stayed at Crystal Residency, with a wonderful view of the consulate from the roof. I remember my husband telling me to hurry up seeing the crowd :)

Day 1: Finger-printing @ Chennai Consulate

A wait in a long long queue is a must. This queue was not well managed :( Passport, DS 160 confirmation letter and the appointment letter are verified at the entrance. You need to enter into a huge building and go to the next floor. A small door on the right leads to a small room, where your passports, documents are once again verified by smart men at the counter and you are given a token. Now you enter into a big room and when your number on the token is called out, you need to go to one the windows. Here the finger printing process happens and you are sent out. You are asked for a feedback too on this entire process. I gave a satisfactory :) While my husband gave a poor :) :) All this was about 15 minutes work here. 

Day 2: Interview @ Chennai Consulate

Show the appointment letter and the passport at the entrance. Do not have any closed envelopes with you, they will send you out, ask you to remove it and then you need to iterate the process again. They give you a token, which will lead you to a counter where they ask your basic documents and for god knows what reason they took my fingerprints again here. Here, i feel is where they decide most of it.

We then proceed to the other building for the interview. I did see 4 rejections. They were all from consultancies. Basically, they couldn't answer well and to point. So they were rejected. My interview went well.

I: Hi
Me: Hi
I: hows your day so far?
Me: So far so good. how about yours?
I: Where do you work
Me: (told)
I: Do you have a clients location.
Me: No. I work at the head office in ..
I: Where did you do your masters
Me: (told)
I: My day has been pretty rough. But glad to meet you. Your visa is approved!
Me: thank you so much. Good day!!

All the best readers!!

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

H1B Visa proces

Hmmm... as usual penning out the process i followed. My interview experience can be found here.

The company usually applies for your H1B. And they give you a packet which has all the documents needed for applying. As per my knowledge these are the ones i had with me. Please refer to respective consulate websites for more information.

Mandatory for Application and Interview:

1. Passport
2. DS 160 confirmation page (Photo & barcode are important)
3. Fee payment receipt.
4. Interview appointment letter.
5. I-797.
6. Photographs

For the interview:

• Resume
• All Documents submitted to USCIS
• Offer letter \ Employment Contract
• Tax returns statements.
• Labor Certificate
• Proof of residence (Lease documents)
• Last 3 bank statements
• Last 3 pay stubs.
• Company document which contains the details of your company

You need to fill the DS 160 here and submit it:  https://ceac.state.gov/GENNIV
This site was really helpful in filling the DS 160. You can fill the appointment date here. This process is all easy and smooth if you have the documents required.

I noticed that the process to apply for H1B renewal is also the same as above. All the best. 

Visitor Visa/ Tourist Visa Questions

The following are the questions a Visa interviewer would ask if you are applying for a tourist visa. This set of questions is focused on "USA", but its the same set for any visiting country. Definitely not all, but if prepared for these clearing the interview would be easy. But remember,

1. Answer to point.
2. Dont lie.
3. Carry necessary documents.
4. Convince them that you would return back :)

Here they are:

1.   Why are you going to the US?
2.  Have you been to the U.S. before?
3.  Do you have relatives in the US? If yes, who?
4.  Who is going to sponsor your visit?
5.  Where will you stay in the US?
6.  What does your son/daughter do for a living?
7.  How much does your son/daughter earn?
8.  Where does your son/daughter work?
9.  What does your son/daughter-in-law do?
10.  Who is paying for your son/daughter-in-law's studies?
11.  How long has your son/daughter been in the US?
12.  Which visa is your son/daughter and son/daughter-in-law on?
13.  Did your son/daughter study in the US? Where?
14.  What visa did your son/daughter enter the U.S. on?
15.  Is your son/daughter married?
16.  Does your son/daughter have any children?
17.  Is your daughter/daughter-in-law pregnant?
18.  Will your wife/husband accompany you on your trip?
19.  If only one person is traveling to the U.S. then they may ask: Why are you traveling alone? OR Why isn't your husband/wife accompanying you?
20.  When do you plan to travel?
21.  Why do you want to travel at that time?
22.  What are you going to do in the US?
23.  What is the purpose of your trip?
24.  Have you blocked your tickets?
25.  Do you have return air tickets, medical insurance etc.
26.  How much expense do you expect from this trip?
27.  Have you been outside India before?
28.  Is this your first visit to US?
29.  What places do you want to visit?
30.  How long will you stay in the US?
31.  Can't you finish your visit earlier? Why do you want to stay for so long?
32.  What is the guarantee that you will come back?
33.  When did you last see your son/daughter?
34.  When did your son/daughter last visit India?
35.  When does your son/daughter plan to visit India next?
36.  Where do you stay in India?
37.  When did your son/daughter go to US?
38.  What work do you do and where?
39.  What is your job profile?
40.  How much do you earn/ What is your annual income?
41.  If you are working, you may be asked: Did you take leave?
42.  Your income is not enough to support international travel. What do you plan to do?
43.  If you run a business, you may be asked: Who will look after your business in your absence?
44.  When did you retire?
45.  How much pension do you get?
46.  What assets/property do you have in India?
47.  Who will take care of your property in India while you are gone?
48.  Can I see you Business/visiting card?
49.  Do you have a credit card?
50.  Will you work in the US?
51.  How many children do u have ? And where are they? What do they do? Are they married?
52.  What is your son/daughter's birth date?
53.  When is your son/daughter's wedding anniversary?
54.  Can you tell me your son/daughter's contact details?
55.  Show me your documents OR Has your son/daughter sent any documents?

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

India-Link-GRE-Link-Toefl-Link-Universities-Link-Documentation-link-USA

Here are few links, which helped me and my friends through out this Master's journey! A lil' detailed information on each topic, you can refer to other posts! Hope they all help u!

Gre:
http://www.tcyonline.com/india/Home
http://learnwordlist.com/
http://www.greword.com/?cat=1
http://bighugelabs.com/magazine.php

http://princetonreview.com/grad/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=80&TYPE=GRE-PRACTICE-TEST
http://www.Number2.com
http://greguide.com
http://www.syvum.com/gre/
www.takegre.com
www.mygretutor.com
www.grebible.com
www.kaptest.com
http://pllab.kaist.ac.kr/~gladius/gre/
http://www.intelligentedu.com/newly_researched_free_training/GRE.html
http://www.gre.org/pracmats.html
http://www.petersons.com/testprepchannel/gre_free.asp?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=248&WT.mc_r=180
http://www.catprep.com/exams/gre/launch-win.html
http://www.grammatix.com/shop/cgi-bin/grammatix.cgi?pg=freeinfo#gre
http://www.gorillatestprep.com/gre_resources.html
http://www.indianchild.com/GRE/gre-practice-test.htm
http://www.english-test.net/gre/vocabulary/meanings/330/gre-test.php
http://www.grebible.com/download.htm
http://www.computerbasedtest.com/download.html
http://www.testmagic.com/
http://www.supervoca.com/  

Visa: 

www.visafever.blogspot.com


Remaining/Haphazardly listed:

http://800score.com/
http://edulix.com/
http://www.testmagic.com
www.syvum.com
www.vyomworld.com
http://www.gistguide.com/
http://www.minibikesonline.com/linkspages/Education.asp
http://www.collegejournal.com/exams/
http://www.onesmartclick.com/exams/gre-gmat-tofel-sat.html
http://www.greguide.com/gre-issue-essay.html
http://www.800score.com/gre-essay.html
http://shivampatel.net/msapp/default.asp
http://www.usaeducationguides.com/?gclid=CKuR_M7R05wCFY0vpAodTRgsJw
http://www.greedge.com/?gclid=CLnNtZfT05wCFQtN5QoddRDBIw
http://msinus.com/gre.htm
http://www.usdreamz.com/2008/12/free-profile-evaluation-for-ms-in-us.html
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2005/jun/23gre.htm
http://www.universityvisitorsnetwork.com/search_compare.php
http://www.i20fever.com/school.htm