THE VISA INTERVIEW

The visa interview is a little different from the kind of interviews we have experienced before. There is not going to be a one hour smiling goody goody interview. Nobody will be there at the opposite side listening patiently to all that you have to say. That is, your interview is not going to be something like you see in the picture here. Rather the next question will be fired half way through your answering the previous question. Some people complain that the visa officer rejected him without even asking a single question or did not even listen properly to what they were saying. Its true, it all happens. Sometimes the visa officer just see your voice is shaking too much and within 10 seconds you are rejected. Its not right to blame the visa officer saying he did not listen to you. He must have sensed something wrong. Sometimes your answer shows that you have noted down by heart everything and you are just jibbering out all you remembered. You are not candid or you are taking time to answer which shows you are trying to manipulate something. If you are too late in replying, you will be rejected on the spot even before your answer is complete. I have seen friends who were thoroughly prepared but just because they did not find the right document they were looking for they were rejected.  

On an average more than 40% of students are rejected. There is hardly any visibility between you and the visa officer. Between you two will be a window pretty high up and covered with glass. There will be only a small slot for you to pass on your documents. Its kind of a window through which you buy the cinema tickets. He sees only your face. So it does not matter what you are wearing except that proper dressing may increase your own confidence. All he sees is your face and hears your voice. So don’t worry if you shoes are dirty !!. The voice is the most important part. How you speak, how fluent you are, how convincing you sound, etc. and of course, the documents. They are the next important thing. But these they have come to know that its easy to forge all kinds of documents in India. And it’s a typical american culture to rely on what you say rather than asking for proofs specially in a country like India where all certificates and everything can be forged. So ultimately everything boils down to your confidence level. How much confident you sound. But remember, unless you are very thorough with your documents you are in losing grounds.

All this shows how much preparation you need before the interview. On an average the visa interview lasts for around a minute or so. It may stretch to two or three minutes occassionally. You have to carry several documents. He can ask for any document randomly and you don’t have the time searching through the pile of documents. There is no time. So you should remember which document is stacked up where. Its better to have a harmonium folder. A harmonium folder is a plastic bag with several slots indexed from A to Z. various certificates can go into their own slots. For example, all your marksheets go into one slot, whereas all the gre/toefl scores go into another slot. The university offer letters goes into another slot. Almost everybody carries a harmonium folder. Its very easy to search for a document in a harmonium folder.

In the yahoo groups there will be a lot of discussion about how the interviews are going on. You don’t have a choice to select an interviewer. You will simply be called to a particular window. So even if you have read in the yahoo groups that this particular person is rejecting visas randomly, don’t lose heart. Personal experiences as reported in the yahoo groups are often contradictory. Since more than 40% are getting rejected there always exists a certain negativity about the reports. There is no such biasing that one consulate is more favorable than other. People fall back into various supersititions but finally that does not help.

We have already discussed in detail about the documents that you should carry. In the yahoo groups people will keep posting the questions they are being asked. Prepare yourself with the answers to those questions keeping it in mind that you have very little time in hand. Sometimes the interviewer will cut you half way through an answer, actually he is looking at how spontanous you are. He is not interested in the actual answer. Most of the questions are common and being asked again and again for example, why are you joining this particular university ?. If your answer is the same as the last hundred candidates its not impressive. If you are there with a firm voice, spontanous and an unique answer he will cut you half way, which means he accepts it.

There are many institutes that grooms and prepares you for the visa interview. This book is not a substitute for a coaching like that. But not every student goes to one of those institutes. The institute will talk about the same things that are discussed here and may be more. However if you are not planning to join one of these coaching centers this book is a definite help. Sometimes I have seen guys making very obvious mistakes, specially messing up with the financial documents. For them a coaching is definitely helpful, but students who have a scholarship from an university would not like to spend heavy bucks on coaching and really their chances of getting through is higher than normal.  

Generally passports are sent to you by courier but if your passport is handed over to you immediately, remember that you have been rejected. Exit gracefully, don’t screw up your chances of appearing for the second time. Everything about you is getting logged. Many people cry, shout and make a scene out there once they are rejected. They are surely messing up their chances of a second attempt. The more you show off that you are desperate to get the visa, more is the chance of getting rejected. If you are rejected by any chance, try to find out the reason. Ask the interviewer if you get a chance, the cause of rejection. Many students simply come back and do the same mistakes during the second attempt. Though most people wont fit into this category but the truth is if you have been to USA before on any visa, your chances of getting the student visa is very very high. This tip will be useful for people who are already on the job in software industry which frequently sends people abroad.

Many many students get a visa in their second attempt after they have been rejected for the first time. Though its true that the probability of getting decreases with every attempt its still not zero. Preparing for a second attempt is a little bit different than the first one. If you don’t have sufficient time in hand you will waste away the second chance in anxiety, in frustration for not getting a free slot. Many many students every year don’t get a free slot during their second attempt because they never planned for it. If at all they get a slot, they are so relieved and then there is so little time in hand they are never prepared. It’s a common question to explain why you have been rejected for the first time and what prompted you to appear again. If you don’t have a very convincing answer you will be rejected again. Don’t do this obvious mistake of blaming the interviewing person. Many people give answers like “That person did not look at all my documents and I don’t why he rejected me just like that…”. You will definitely be rejected again.

The last word : confidence, confidence and confidence.