Rejected Visa Interview
Last fall, I asked a good friend of mine to copy visa interviews from groups. Let me just put it all here.
These are only approved once! If you want to see the approval once, you can see it here.
#001
Me: Good Morning (with a big smile) VO: no response VO: Pass me your passport and I20 Me: Passed VO: Where did you do your bachelor’s degree from? Me: I pursued my BTech from ___ in ___ VO: Who will be sponsoring your education? Me: My father and my brother will be sponsoring my entire education. They have liquid assets of XX lac. VO: What does your father do? Me: My father is a retired engineer, and my brother is a software engineer at XYZ org. VO: I couldn’t hear the question properly. Me: Pardon VO: What are your plans after Masters? Me: I was a little nervous at this time because I missed the question. I will come back to India. There are a lot of opportunities in the field of AI in India. Several companies like xx, yy, and zz are looking for software engineers in the same field. I hope to work with them. VO: What is your father’s monthly income. Me: Told along with my brother’s.
Sorry, your visa is not approved and passed me a 214b slip. Reason on 214b slip: Not demonstrated that you have ties that will compel you to return to your home country.
#002
Consulate – Hyderabad
Counter 9
Profile – GRE 302, IELTS – 6, UG – 82%
Work Exp. – 7 yrs in S/W
Applied univ – Umhb ,Uni of Concordia – winscon , oklohama City univ ,um Flint
Admitted Uni – Umhb, univ of Concordia- winscon
VO: Come forward Me: came and said ‘Hi Mam, Good Morning VO: What are your scores Me: I got GRE – 302, and IELTS – 6 VO: Which year you passed out Me: 2010 VO: Sorry. Your VISA is not approved this time. Handed over 214b slip along with my passport
#003
Date – 2 may 2018
Time – 9:00
Consulate – Delhi
University – Stony Brook Computer Science
Counter no.- 12 Visa officer was a woman in her 30s.
I reached the center at 8 AM and was done with the VISA by 09:15 AM.
Me: Hello Mam, Good Morning! How are you today? VO: Im great Thank You! How are you? Me: Im great as well. Thanks for asking. VO: So you want to go to Stony Brook. ME: Yes, Mam! I wish to pursue my masters in Computers Science from the university VO: Very well! Why did you select the university? ME: Gave her 2 to 3 reasons. Research focus. Detailed curriculum. And I also mentioned intentionally that the curriculum is more detailed than my other admits. VO: How many universities did you apply to, and which other admits do you have? ME: I had applied to 6 universities from which I got accepted in 4 universities. Named them. VO: What did you pursue in your bachelor’s. ME: I completed my Bachelors in Computer Engineering from Thapar University in 2015. VO: What have you been doing since then? ME: I have been working with a startup that is an AI-based loyalty management platform.
VO: What made you choose this specific course? ME: I gave her two reasons – My final yr project and my current work ex were the deciding factors. VO: Who is sponsoring your education, and how is he sponsoring it. ME: I have sanctioned an unsecured education loan of Rs. 40L, and I have savings of about 6 Lakhs. VO: How will you fund your second year. ME: I have sanctioned a loan for the complete two years MS. VO: Can you please show me the documents. ME: Passed VO: What will you do after MS. ME: I will return to India after doing MS and continue to work in the AI field. VO : (Think for 10 seconds) Sorry, I cannot approve your visa this time. ME: Can you please tell me the reason. VO: (Handed over me a slip) It’s written in the slip. You can still reapply ME: Thanks. Have a nice day.
#004
Date – 29 May 2018
Time – 9:30
Consulate – Delhi
University – San Jose state university Software Engineering
Counter no.- 19
Visa officer was a woman in her 30s.
I reached the center at 8 AM and was done with the VISA by 10:00 AM.
Me: Hello Mam, Good Morning! How are you today? VO: Im great Thank You VO: So you want to go to San Jose ME: Yes, Mam! I wish to pursue my masters in SE from the university VO: Why did you select the university? ME: Gave reasons about the course curriculum and dual specializations they offer and align with my interest and work experience. VO: How many universities did you apply to, and which other admits do you have? ME: I had applied to 4 universities from which I got accepted in 3 universities. Named them. VO: What did you pursue in your bachelor’s. ME: I completed my bachelor’s in computer science. VO: Will you do research? ME: No, ma’am, it’s a project-based course. ( her face turned from a smile to red) started asking questions you will work during masters, which courses will you take and all that with a serious face in one go.) Me: Mam, I will not work, and it’s a 30 credit course. I will do eight courses and one major project. VO: What does your dad do, and is sponsoring your education? What’s his income? ME: Yes, my dad is sponsoring. He is an industrialist. He earns x lacs per month, and we have savings of x lacs which in itself are enough to cover two years expenses VO: Ran from her seat to nearby counter, and I could hear her saying he is a son of a businessman and going for the non-thesis course what should I do. Came back and issued 214 b.
#005
Delhi embassy
Slot – 11:15, 11th May 2018
Counter no – 17
Texas A&M University college station Industrial Engineering
GRE: 329, IELTS – 8
I20 amount – 32232 USD
VO was a young lady around 30. Rejected two guys before me in 1 min each.
Me: good afternoon ma’am VO: good morning. Pass me your I20 and passport. Me: passed the docs VO: how many classes will you take in a week? Me: 9 hrs per week VO: how are you going to finance your education? Me: I have a loan covering both years of my studies, plus I will be using mine and my father’s savings. VO: What were you doing since you passed college. Me: I was working as a manager in Reliance Industries. VO: what do you have to do there. Me: I work in the maintenance department there, and I have to take care of the maintenance of plant equipment and keep the plant running, preventing any downtime. VO: how much does your father earn monthly Me: around 50k. VO: sorry, I can’t approve your visa this time. Handed over me 214b slip.
#006
Visa experience – 25th May Delhi consulate Time – 9:30 Counter -14 It was a hard day,😐
My vo was a strict lady, maybe in the ’30s
Me: Good morning Vo: no response, pass your i20 and passport Me: sure Vo: so you work in Genpact, right? Me: yes, mam Vo: In how many universities did you apply to? Me: I applied to 7 universities- got it from 5 and rejection from 2 Vo: why CSU Fresno? Me: I told her about curriculum, the flexibility of curriculum, and compare it with my shortlisted universities, why I chose it over others. Faculties and my interest domain Vo -(still no reaction) okay Vo-how you going to fund yourself? Is your father funding you? Me: yes, Mam, my father is funding my education, we have saved for x lakhs, and I also have an education loan of y lakhs and fixed assets of Xyz Vo: what’s your father do? Me: he is a businessman who owns two showrooms of mobile in east Delhi and also, he is the main dealer of MI brand. Vo: what are annual income and turnover? Me: told Vo: how you are going to pay your loan? Me: Mam, I do have enough funds for the complete education, I took a loan as a backup, but If I need to use my loan, I think after my graduation, I will have enough experience in my domain to apply as a technical specialist here in India, will pay off the loan. (No expression yet, and from here, I think it all starts to mess up) Vo: okay, what’s your plan for internships. Me: I don’t know why I was blank on this question- replied- right now, I am focused on my master program, so after graduation, I think I will return to India and apply as a full-time employee here in my organization. (I have no idea why I didn’t understand the expectation of vo on this question ) So she rejected my visa and handed over the 214b slip. When I was leaving, she murmured that “why don’t students use the OPT period smartly!”.
At that point, I regretted that I should have told her about my real plans, that after graduation, if I get an opportunity to work as an intern, I would grab it then with that experience, I would work in India near my parents.
#007
Visa Second Attempt Consulate – Chennai Time – 8:30 AM
Vo was a bob cut lady with Bi-spectacles
Vo: Pass me your passport, I20, and sevis Vo: Which University? Me: State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo) Vo: Which Major? Me: Computer and Information Sciences Vo: When did you graduate? Me: 2014 Vo: What was your score like? Me: 8.23 on a scale of 10 Vo: Why do you want to go back to school? Me: I have been working as a systems engineer in TCS for the past 33 months. My role was in backend development involving data optimization DB management. Although the job was exciting, my knowledge will become obsolete because of the recent trend towards intelligent databases. Hence I want to move to the next level and be future-ready. That is why I want to pursue Masters to gain advanced knowledge Vo: How are you going to fund? Me: I have availed an education loan of 25 L @ 10.75%. My parents have savings of xx lakhs, x lakhs of movable assets, xx lakhs of immovable assets. Vo: What are your parents? Me: My father has been working as xx for the past 25 years, and my mother has been working as xx for the past 20 years. Vo: What is their combined income? Me: xx LPA Vo typed for a long time and gave me back a blue slip with the second box ticked. I asked her why and she said that I don’t meet certain requirements to be qualified for a visa. I asked if I can apply again, for which she said I could.
#008
Any inputs on this, guys? VISA First Attempt Conversation My perception: VO was in the early ’40s. The stern-looking guy hardly made any eye contact with me.
VO : (no good morning) Me: Passed my passport and I20 VO: which university Me: State University of New York at Buffalo (Suny buffalo) VO: why Buffalo? Me: As a matter of fact, I have researched the universities I have applied to, and all of them have a good reputation for education. I got admit from ASU and Buffalo, but ASU is offering me Information technology, whereas Buffalo is offering me computer science. I want to master in computer science specialization VO: what are you planning to do after graduation? Me: Sir, I have taken a sabbatical leave from my current company, and I prefer to come back and work in a related field in the same company VO: What was your undergraduate branch? Me: EIE VO: How are you going to fund your studies? Me: I have taken a loan of **L and bank savings of **L ( total is marginally above I20). He looked at my I20, and I assume he wanted to check the I20 amount and started typing vigorously. It was ominous that he was going to reject me. After typing, they took a form 214B
#009
First Attempt
Mumbai
21st June 2017 University of Washington, Seattle MS in Information Management
VO: Please pass your i20 and passport. Passed VO: What other admits did you get? Me: the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign ma’am VO: How many universities did you apply to? Me: 8 What all other universities? Me: UCI, Wisconsin, NCSU, Rutgers, … VO: Out of 8, you got only 2? Me: Yes, Ma’am VO: alright, what’s your GRE score? Me: 322 ma’am VO: That’s pretty good, so how are you finding yourself? Me: I have an education loan and liquid assets. VO: What is the collateral on loan? Me: Property VO: What does your father do? Me: He is a stockbroker VO: Why does a stockbroker need a loan? Me: For tax benefits :/ VO: what is the ROI? Me: 9.9% VO: Which bank? Me: Central Bank of India VO: I’m sorry you’re not eligible for an F1 visa this time. Gave me a 214b
#010
Attempt 1
Date – 9th May
Time – 10:30 AM
Consulate – Chennai
Counter no. – 27
Entered the consulate around 10:15 AM and came out around 11:45 AM… VO is a pretty young lady in her early 30’s…but was rejecting everyone … Rejected two people before me … here comes my turn
VO: Good morning sir, pass your i20 and passport
Me: Sure Mam, passed my documents
VO: what all other universities did you apply to?
Me: I applied for four and got through in all of them.
VO: Can you name all of them?
Me: Started naming all the units
VO: So why did you choose SUNY bing over the other universities
Me: Told about the research and lab facilities and also about the coursework
VO : (looks pretty impressed )… so who is funding you?
Me: My father is funding me
VO: what does he do?
Me: He works for the state govt and told his position
VO: Okay, your i20 says 40,500, so how are you going to pay 81,000 dollars?
Me: Mam, My dad has saving of ** lakhs, and I also got a loan sanctioned for 20lakhs
VO: Okay, so what does your mom do?
Me: She is a housewife now, used to work as a principal in a B.ed cold
VO: any siblings?
Me: one elder brother, currently working in Australia
VO: Okay, when did you finish your undergrad? Me: 2016 June mam
VO: What were you doing since then?
Me : (this is where I completely messed up ) Mam, I took some time to do my online research to find the best fit and took some time for prep of GRE and IELTS … nd started of with application procedure and learned computer courses simultaneously.
VO: Sorry sir, This time, you do not qualify for a visa. Thank you. (Passes back my i20 n passport )
Me: walked off silently, not knowing what to do.
#011
Attempt 2
Date – 25th May
Time – 8:30 AM
Consulate – Chennai
Counter – 25
VO this time was an old lady .. very strict (Horrified even before the start )
VO: good morning, pass me your i20 and passport
Me: good morning Mam, sure (passed the documents )
VO: why us?
Me: to pursue my masters in electrical engineering
(Scans the barcode behind the passport and starts reading my previous interviews feedback )
VO: Sir, how many attempts did you give for GRE? Me: only one, Mam
VO: have any backlogs?
Me: no mam, no backlogs
VO: Wat all other admits do you have?
Me: told the other three units
VO: Sorry, sir, you don’t qualify for a visa.
Me : ( I was expecting it to b a bit long atleast ) but Mam, I can explain the gap in my studies.
VO: No explanations needed sir, your visa interview is completed.
Me: Mam, but may I know the reason why it’s rejected? ( Thinking U hardly asked any questions)
VO: The previous feedback was not satisfactory.
Me: Okay, Mam, Have a nice day.
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